We have settled into a fine routine here in relaxed Brisbane. Our stay is feeling a little more like being at home than being on a holiday. The 12th started off with some of our new teas and some breakfast. Then we did a round of cleaning, scrubbing, vacuuming and such. I was not feeling my best so we took it easy and watched a movie. I took a nap and then we made some stir fry for dinner. We went out for a walk in the early evening and came across some nicely decorated buildings. Since there is no Thanksgiving holiday here, Christmas decorations go up early.
One of the peculiarities of this lifestyle is that the trip planning never ends. So on the 13th after we went to the Sunday morning market in the gardens, we got down to business. We worked on finalizing New Zealand travel and dove into our Spain trip. I also got tickets to see the military tattoo in Edinburgh for August 2023. It is a huge show with bagpipes and drums. We went to the store for essentials not found at the Sunday market. Leslie found some Cheerios in a huge sized box. It is a good thing that we are here for another month and a half, there are lots of Cheerios to eat. My pool-itis was not getting better so we make some chicken soup for dinner to try to knock it down.
The 14th found me still feeling poorly so I made an appointment with a doctor. The insurance plan we have is Geo-Blue which works like an international HMO. They have doctors that are "in the plan" all over the world. I found one right down the street from where we are staying. The doctor will get paid directly from the insurance and that will save me the time I would have spent filling out claim forms. The morning was spent on dancing, trip planning and banking. We have added a credit card that accrues hotel points in addition to the points we get when staying in various hotels. Leslie took it upon herself to summarize all the log in information, current balances and partners for the hotels that we have points with. That is tedious work so we took a exploratory walk to the west to get re-energized. Our route took us along the court buildings where we saw a news crew and a few justices walking along. The robes and wigs of old England certainly make a judge stand out in a crowd. We got to the Kurilpa Pedestrian Bridge, the one with all the wires and support beams. We walked across it and along the river downstream on the south side. Our walk took us past the GOMA, the State Library and the Art Gallery.
An entire city block of light wrapped trees
All lit up
A Christmas tree and garlands
Sunday market veggies
That is some value indeed
Save me Chicken Soup!
Put a nail in it
The eyes see all!
So do the camera crews outside the Supreme Court Building
The wind makes this wig wearing justice look like he is wearing a bustle
The buildings with contrasting colors and stripes
Walking over the river
Such a complicated support system
The elevated highway and the elevated bike path below
There were very few folks using this pedestrian bridge
GOMA the Gallery of Modern Art
The State Library, more of a research and working library than a lending library
This royal poinsettia was so big it needed extra support
