A week or so ago I went to the National War Memorial. I am attempting to get out and see places before I return to England. With only a day or two off I try to see places around Canberra. Hence, the previous couple of blogs with Parliament House and Square Rock.

As it has been raining heaps I decided that an indoor place was on the cards for today. In fact it has been raining so much in Canberra that one of the ambulances got bogged at a pick up and had to call the fire brigade to pull her out. I really felt for her, we all here assume that all front lawns are as hard as a salt pan in the dessert, but alas on this particular night it was more a peat pan from Yorkshire....bubble bubble sinking trouble.

Anyway back to the memorial. I had actually been here before but decided to go again as the newest part at the back I had not seen on my last trip. I decided also to join a tour. They are run by Volunteer old soldiers and I thought it might be a bit of a bash Japan, bash Germany session. We had a German backpacker in our group and it was a really good tour focusing on the horror of war and less about the blame.

We started huddled in one end of the cloister while the guide explained the history of the memorial and how long the tour would be etc. 90 mins and we could leave anytime if we liked. Up the lift to avoid the rain and out on the WWI side of the cloisters were the wall of honour begins. The tradition of placing poppies by the name of loved ones was begun by a lady who noted her grandfather. It is wonderful to see now the thousands of poppies lining the walls. Even the names without their own poppy are somehow made better by the surrounding poppies.

I also liked the fact that there is no rank on the wall just the name of the individual. To illustrate this, the guide pointed out a general killed at Gallipoli alphabetically below a private killed in the same campaign.

At the end of the WWI cloister we entered the dome. This is breathtaking. The mosaic alone is millions of tiles and took several years to complete. Nenna, you would be impressed by the talent of the artist. I was impressed by the patience of the artist. In the centre is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the 4 services represented by figures in the wall. Airforce, Army, Navy and Nursing (women's). I will concede it was build before men were nurses and certainly as it has a WWI period theme.

Along the WWII cloister to the end where the other wars like Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq are represented. The rain continued so it was a quick walk onto the balcony that looks down ANZAC Ave. Sometimes I am impressed by the thought that went into the planning of Canberra. There really are some spectacular views. I just wish the modern planners of Canberra were inspired by Walter Burley Griffin, rather than a Russian Gulag.

After the tour I stayed for a film about the bomber raids over Berlin that bought the German war effort to an end, and ultimately surrender. It is shown on the walls of the new aeroplane museum and is very effective.

The rain continued for the day so the open air cafe for a coffee was out. I dashed back to the car. As a footnote, thank you Mum for leaving your tartan umbrella in the car, it has come in handy.