A Day in Pompeii

category: Trips Out, author:

Agamedes

31 August 2010

The City to Surf fun run was last weekend -- so our training regime has finally collapsed. Time to relax at last! So we went to the city to see A Day in Pompeii.

We parked at the Cultural Centre carpark and walked upstairs. Looked around, admired the cultural demographic of the area: Youngish, scruffyish, arty... We were in an area with art galleries, museum, state library, TAFE... Definitely not our usual suburban haunts.

Raining, too, but not too hard.

"Where," we wondered, "Is the Pompeii exhibition?! Perhaps in the Art Gallery?"

The Art Gallery was closed. It's Tuesday. No-one wants to look at Art on a rainy Tuesday... The Art Gallery coffee shop was open, though... Later, perhaps...

Luckily enough we could see a very large sign... across the damp concrete concourse of the cultural centre... A very large sign advertising the Pompeii exhibition. The sign covered the entire wall of the Museum. The exhibition was in the Museum.

As we walked towards the Museum we noticed a strange little building. Glass walls front and back. A single room, empty except for a washing-up area at one end. Hmmm... cultural, perhaps?

Inside the Museum we bought our tickets. Twenty dollars each, the next show starts at 11:06... "The next show"? A Day in Pompeii starts with an eight minute 3D movie; the next showing starts at 11:06.

Have you ever looked at the "legal contract" on the back of a ticket?

There's a lot there, isn't there! Still -- if I remember my Contract Law lectures -- the conditions only count if they are pointed out to you. Being on the back of the ticket is not enough to include them in the contract of sale. If I remember correctly. If the law has not changed.

We went to the Museum coffee shop for coffee and cake. The coffee shop area extends outdoors and has been extended (or sheltered) with a marquee. Heated with gas burners (this is winter) and given a very slight Roman theme. A pleasant spot to pass the twenty minutes while we waited.

We waited with the help of latte, cappuccino and a Tuscan Grape cake (with cream) to share. Delicious cake! No time to dilly dally, though... Just enough time to eat, drink and walk rapidly back for our 11:06 movie.

And the movie is excellent! It's an animated view of Vesuvius erupting. Time lapse, sort of, with a minute or so from 6pm then 8pm then 1pm and so on. A view over Pompeii to Vesuvius, with birds, buildings, smoke, ash, fires and collapse. Very effective!

Out of the cinema, walk through the museum -- past the stuffed animals -- and into the main Pompeii display. Which was also excellent!

The display was crowded but not too crowded. We were able to move around and see all the various exhibits, with just occasional delays to wait for a clear view.

What is in the exhibit? What can I say! Just go and see it...

And so -- after a good long browse -- we left.

But it was raining, so we went upstairs again. Chose the right branch just before the stuffed animals -- and we looked at the butterflies. Amazing! So many butterflies -- and so beautiful!

Of course there were also the West Australian butterflies. Including the ones from the Perth area, with very small ranges which have largely been destroyed. Very sad.

One type of butterfly lives (or lived) in the Perth area. It fed only from one type of bush and only when a particular species of ant was nesting nearby. The butterfly spent each night sheltering in the ant nest, giving nectar in exchange. Its last habitat was bulldozed several decades ago. What are the butterfly's chances? Buckley's or none.

Ah well.

We went back to the Art Gallery cafe for lunch. Coffee and soup... Very nice soup, too: cauliflower & broccoli. Perhaps just a bit salty.

The cafe is a Caffissimo, with its standard branded sugar. But there were also some non-Caffissimo sugars, so I sampled some of them. I collect cafe sugar packets -- and this is my first Elite sugar! So. Standard cafe franchise, interesting location, good location and new sugar brand -- a good lunch all round :-)

From there it was back to the car and off to Como. Zigging and zagging through the city, working our way from Northbridge to the Narrows Bridge.

With a convenient stop on Terrace Road to use a public convenience. More than convenient, in fact -- it was a lucky stop. I took a wrong turn and had to do a U-turn. As I made the turn I spotted the toilet block. Aha! I thought, Never miss an opportunity!

From there it was an easy drive to Como. Did our minor business, said hello to Joe the property manager, headed home again.

We were almost sorry that we had not brought the GPS... we could have looked for a couple of geocaches. But no -- it was still raining. It had been enough excitement for one day, so... home again with no cache searches.

Just a quick stop at a shop.

And home.

..o0o..

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