Art and rest in Perth

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I was supposed to leave Perth yesterday but my English travel-mate asked to postpone it to Friday. At first I was disappointed but then I thought that I could really enjoy 2 more days of not doing much.
The most I did was read my Tom Clancy book. Once you start reading it you can't leave it. I sit in cafes, I sit on benches just out there, I sit in the lounge of my hostel, and I read. I am also keen to finish it cause I want to start my new book that I bought here (the "Almost French" - I'll tell you about it once I read it).
I also went a few times to art galleries. All museums are free here so you can wander around as many times as you want. Yesterday I visited again the art gallery of Western Australia, where I already visited last week. This time I had a deeper look at the exhibitions, I really enjoyed that. Today I returned again for a guided tour focusing in the art of WA. I was the only one in the tour, and that was great. It was really interesting even if their art is very European style - influences from England, France and Germany, nothing really different, but still some good works and it was nice to learn more about the styles and techniques. Back to yesterday, I also went to the "Perth Institute of Contemporary Art". They have now an exhibition of works of top art students from around the country. They gave me the catalog to read while I visited so I could read what the artists themselves said about their works, which was really interesting. They are all young, 20 something, and they have really refreshing vision. I thought Hadas would have loved this exhibition.

Apart from reading and visiting art galleries, I wondered in the center and did lots of window shopping. Really by chance I discovered a nice paved street with beautiful buildings and small shops, called London court but it's more European than English I think. I was tempted to have lunch in a small cafe there, and they had French music in the background, and I had Quiche Lorraine, and it was fantastic.

Wandering in the shops, I got finally convinced that it was a different culture here than back home. They have a huge sale in the big department store, it's called stock sale, so it's like our stock day, and it so didn't look like Azrieli in stock day. I wish we Israelis did learn something from the guys here...
But my other comment about Israel is positive: I read the chapter about Israel in the Lonely Planet guide (yes, I am doing nothing :-) and it really sounds good. I would even be tempted to visit. Tel-Aviv is described as a city focusing on FUN. I think they got it right, didn't they? I miss Tel Aviv!

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