2020-02-29 – Walking Around Brisbane

Time to see what Brisbane is all about so we are taking a walk.  We found St. John’s Anglican Cathedral just down the street from our hotel.  It looks quite old (is in Gothic style) but was only finally completed in 1960. 

Construction was off and on over a period of 100 years and you could see the various eras reflected in the style of the stained glass.

Two windows in one corner commemorated Australian/American friendship.  The US window featured the American Bald Eagle (window on the right).

Then we took a fast walk down to a pier near the Wheel of Brisbane to catch a river cruise.  The cruise took us along many of the beautiful sights along the river. 

There were rock climbers,

art along the river front,

historical buildings,

and many neighborhoods.

Apartment building along the river

We also saw a casino boat...BrisVegas.

And we had good views of the city skyline…

and the riverside Old Customs House.

They even have a really great Brisbane sign overlooking the river. 

After the tour we road the Wheel of Brisbane a big Ferris wheel along the river.  Similar to the London Eye but much smaller.

Of course, we had great views from the Wheel.

After walking through a very interesting arbor...

we found some lunch at a nearby open air café and then off to the nearby state library.  We have found that libraries often yield great photo opportunities. 

They had an interesting exhibit on Greek Café’s.  In the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s almost every town had a least one Greek Café.  They were so named because they were owned by Greek immigrants.  Most did not serve Greek food.  Almost all were styled after American malt shops and featured ice cream, milk shakes and burgers.  Most interesting.

Some of the very old buildings with iron lace still remain downtown.

And other buildings had distinctive and unusual exteriors. 

The walk along the waterfront yielded more great views of the city skyline... 

and river views.

There is a lot of street art in the areas that we walked.  We have seen a lot of street art all over Australia.

Even the views from our balcony were pretty decent. 

Lovely city, and we put a lot of miles on the shoe leather.