The program was a bit busier. We drove to Frankfort and spent most of the day there.
We started with an exhibition of Banksy’s artwork. A lot of original paintings, pictures and installations. It’s remarkable how he manages to challenge the viewer by mixing elements disconnected from their context. After a few rooms, it seemed a bit too easy to criticise the state, the police, the polluters, the dictators. But later he also highlighted the paradoxes and dilemmas, a society wanting change to happen without understanding that it requires a change at individual level. We’re all too comfortable having opinions from our sofas.
We had lunch at a nice restaurant on St Paul Platz, took a walk across the Main river. At the cathedral, a nice guide shared a little bit of the history and architecture with us, and sent us to Goethe’s house. We did a bit of shopping, listened to a talented street violinist playing a chaconne by Bach.
We went back home to our hosts, and planned our next dats while enjoying bbq food and drinks.
We spent the day in Bad Homburg – Patrick and Carole were working from home, they took a few breaks here and there. In the afternoon, I took the boys to the swimming pool. A quiet and relaxing day 🙂
Our summer holidays will be a little closer to Norway than last year – we’re travelling by car to France. We left Oslo early, caught the ferry to northern Denmark, and will be driving down to Frankfurt area to meet Carole, Patrick and kids. Last time we saw them was in Iceland. It was pre-covid, ages ago.
Covid-19 put barriers between us that we didn’t know existed. Or maybe we take things for granted and sometimes forget how lucky we are to be able to travel easily and freely. We’ve been in Australia for nearly 3 years and having my brother Guillaume and his family finally able to visit has been one of the best things that’s happened. Their visit lived up to my expectations, and then some. Nat, Alfred, Matilda and myself got to share a bit of what our life is like here. The 9 of us shared moments of awe at the beauty of this country. We laughed, we discovered, we learned, we absorbed. Seeing all the kids playing together and having so much fun was very special too. They’re all such a bunch of beautiful souls. We’re all so grateful for the past 4 weeks, and we’ll cherish those memories forever. Time did pass, but did not tear us apart. Loin des yeux, près du coeur.
Today was pretty simple really: we woke up early, dropped the rental car, checked in, and… boarded onto our first plane of the return journey, to Singapore. I learnt thanks to Sarah that I was an Airport Dad, so everyone in the family is making fun of me now.
These 4 weeks have passed at light speed. It seems that we arrived yesterday. At the same time, it seems that we haven’t stopped moving, visiting places and meeting people.
There are two things that have struck me with Australia.
First, how well developed public and recreation areas are. Bbq and picnic tables everywhere, parcs, playgrounds, water fountains, public toilets everywhere (while they’re nowhere to be seen in Norway – too afraid of a few junkies using them), changing rooms next to beaches. It seems like local governments and councils are focused on making sure that people / the general public can enjoy outdoor life in the cities and along the coast. A basic service to everyone over there, and definitely tourist friendly.
The second, is how appeased society seems to be after the reconciliation efforts by both recent Australian and aboriginal Australians. Government and society have acknowledged their past crimes and errors, and will still acknowledge them. They also recognised that aboriginal Australian are the custodians of the land. This acknowledgment is a natural start of all guided tours, will be written at the entrance of any building, and will take the form of a welcome ceremony at public events. There are some things that can never be repaired, but everyone seem more focused on the present.
What we see in other western countries is rather the opposite, a shared unwillingness to reconcile: blacks vs whites in the US, perpetuating guilt and fear narratives; European countries vs their old colonies unable to make peace on the past; minorities and “majorities” unwilling to define a present and a future together. I found that Australia was becoming at peace with themselves, through this genuine and honest reconciliation work. And because it is sincere, it creates a general impression of peacefulness.
We had early lunch at home, and took the bus to the city. We stopped at the Australian Museum, where we learnt about dinosaurs, Australian fauna and the history of reconciliation with aboriginal Australians. The building itself was nice, built in several phases, with recent parts nicely integrated with the old sections of more neo-classicism style.
We then went to a guided tour of the opera house. A million tiles that are off-white – not white, as it would reflect too much light; an elegant concrete structure supporting the sails, and a sad history where the architect, Jørn Utzon, never actually saw the finished building, because of a dispute with the NSW prime minister in the middle of the building process – he left and never came back. Unbelievable, for such an iconic building that symbolises the city.
On our way to the city center, we stopped by the Sydney Museum – we saw a very interesting but somehow sad documentary about the conflictual settlement of europeans west of the Blue Mountains, in the Wiradjuri’s land, and how just a few would ruin what could have been a peaceful cohabitation.
We spent a few hours shopping in the city center, and came back at nightfall for a light show on the Opera house. By that time, the temperature had dropped, so we went home pretty rapidly after.
The evening was about packing everything, planning the day tomorrow.
