Australian Maritime Museum

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It was raining again in Sydney today and more is in the forecast. This is not what we expected when Maggie and I planned this visit, but we are adjusting. It seemed like a good day to visit a museum and one of the museums that we like here is the Australian Maritime Museum, so and we spent the day there. Appropriately you can get to the museum by water and so that's what we did. I don't know if I have expressed how much I enjoy going out onto Sydney Harbor. The views of the opera house and the Harbor Bridge (actually, it is the Harbour Bridge) and, in fact, the entire Sydney skyline, are fabulous, even in the rain. The ferry also provides a nice view of the Maritime Museum (see photo) and the boats that are docked along side it. The sailing ship in this picture is a full-scale replica of The Endeavor, the ship that Captain Cook used when he journeyed to the South Pacific and claimed the eastern portion of the continent of Australia for Great Britain in 1766. The Australian Maritime Museum deals with exploration among other aspects of human interactions with the sea. There is a section on the world wars, on the beach lifesavers (we would call them lifeguards), modern long-distance sailors, racing boats, and even a representative from The Beer Can Regatta that takes place every year in the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory. (see photo) We didn't have time to see the special exhibit on "wiling". And at first we didn't even understand what it was, but soon we were able to translate the Australian into American English and realized the exhibit was about "whales". I took a picture of the rainy Sydney skyline from the museum. (see photo) We took the ferry back to Circular Quay and then the subway to our apartment. We didn't get TOO wet today, even though the rain came down quite heavily at times. We shall see what the weather is like tomorrow.

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