I was there three months ago filling in time until our train departed, and we attended the Saturday morning markets. They are a bit 'up market' with beautiful hand crafted goods on offer at quite high prices and Adoring Husband purchased a beautiful ceramic bangle for me.
Today, Woman of Many Talents and I got there early, as suggested by a couple of the ladies in our group, only to discover that we had to wait 45 minutes for the exhibits to open and the tours to commence.
So we decided to go exploring on our own.
We found our way into the domed hall.
The Main Auditorium and the Father Henry Willis Organ (located within the Main Auditorium) are key heritage features of iconic City Hall.
I took photos, which I will share with you after I get home.
Spectacular! We sat quietly taking in all of it's splendour and I recalled the time, more than 40 years ago, when I attended this auditorium as part of our school choir and actually stood on the stage in front of that amazing organ singing my heart out.
I must say that it did not look as big today, as it did back then when I was about 10 yrs old.
We decided to do a tour of the clock tower and luckily were in the first group for the morning. The tour is only 15 minutes long because they have to get you back down out of the tower before the bells ring .. which happens every 15 minutes.
The lift that takes you to the tower is an original lift from the 1930s and is operated manually with brass fittings and instruments and is surrounded by a fine mesh cage. It takes you almost to the top, but there are 28 steps to climb to reach the summit, where you have a 360 degree view of the city and can take photos (which I will also share with you when I return home).
The massive clock face and the five enormous bells, that combined, weigh some astronomical amount were a real treat to see. It was a fascinating tour and I'm so glad that I did it.
Next was an exhibit of photographs taken by an amateur photographer named Alfred Elliott and his historic collection of glass plate and film negatives was discovered in the early 1980s, stored in cigar boxes under a house in inner city Red Hill. Incredible photos of history and all I could think is that the world is so lucky to have we amateur photographers obsessing with our cameras and keeping a record of 'our' times in each generation.
My favourite part of the day was an exhibit of 'Costumes from the Golden Age of Hollywood'. There were stills of movies with the actor/actress wearing the costume and then the actual costume was on display for viewing.
Esther Williams swimming costumes, Yul Brynner's belt from 'The King and I', a June Allyson dress, Barbra Streisand's red velvet cloak from 'Funny Girl', Elizabeth Taylor's wig from 'Cleopatra', Gene Kelly's vest from 'Singing in the Rain', a Lucille Ball dress from 'The Long Long Trailer' and others from Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, Julie Andrews, Judy Garland, Lana Turner and soooo many more.
The display triggered so many memories from my childhood as I remembered watching those movies and seeing those costumes so many years ago. I absolutely loved it and am not afraid to confess that at times, I felt quite emotional.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos of the display, so I can't share any of that with you.
Later, we walked to the casino where we planned on having lunch, but the options were not very good, so we returned to the Paleo Cafe where we ate yesterday and enjoyed a healthful and delicious meal, yet again.
This evening was canapes at the Marriott. We also enjoyed a few beverages and witnessed a domestic dispute, where the police were called. Since none of us knew the full details and only saw a brief volatile encounter between an older gentleman and a young man, we all made up our own stories about the circumstances surrounding the incident. It made for an interesting evening.
So our holiday is over and tomorrow we head home. I've had a very good time and am looking forward to going home, even though it means cramming for two exams over the next 3 weeks!
Nite all.
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