We travelled to Canberra for a few days for family reasons and while there, I had an opportunity to act as a tourist.

I worked there for four years and I loved this city.

It’s Australia’s national capital and full of institutions, museums, galleries and so much more that means there’s always something educational and interesting to do or learn about.

The buildings are beautiful too as most are built around the 1930s and lots of green space. Add to that an easy public transport system, it’s a great place to live and work – except if you like the beach. You’ll have to drive two hours to get to the coast.

Nevertheless while Andrew was at work, I’ve been visiting places I’d never been to.

While there I visited some bookstores which I created videos and shared those on my YouTube channel Life Lessons From Books.

(If they’re not published soon, they will be). Any video not book related, I’ve uploaded here as I don’t want to mix the different types of videos on their channels. Any bookish related ones go to YouTube, any personal ones come here into this blog.

Anyway, first visit was to the National Library (although I’ve been there many times), it was the first time I did a tour and got to see underground in the stacks. Over 273 kilometres of stored books directly under the library that was designed like the Parthenon. The video will be published on YouTube soon!

I also visited the Civic Library (albeit it was closed because of a Professional Development Day) so I went into the nearby Canberra Museum and Gallery to learn more about the culture of the Canberrans and how their city evolved over the years.

My husband is a native-born Canberran and although there’s not many of them, one thing is for sure, they’re more politically astute than any other Australians. That’s because they have Parliament House at their doorstep and see politicians and other bureaucrats on a daily basis. The city mainly consists of public service buildings and to some people, they think the city is bland and devoid of character. It may have been in the early days, but it’s changed. You’ll find a thriving city full of restaurants, bars and cafes.

I visited the National Sound and Film Archive.

It was a short 5 minute bus trip from the bus interchange. It’s the site where all Australian film and sounds over the years have been collected from film, radio and television. There’s an extensive library but what I loved the most was the courtyard of this art deco building that was a peaceful oasis within the four walls of the site.

I took a lot of video footage here but only after I had taken it, did I see the small signs that it wasn’t allowed. Oops. So as a result I didn’t use most of it. Here’s the video if you’re interested.

I also visited the Canberra Museum and Gallery which was in the heart of town near the theatre. It was a good display to learn more about how Canberra evolved as a city since its foundation. Unfortunately the Civic Library was closed otherwise I would have created a little video for my YouTube channel on that too.

Here’s a short video on what I saw at the Canberra Museum.

Overall, a great time in this great city. Even though it was a short stay, I managed to use my time to explore some things but also create videos as well as write, read and swim in the hotel pool.