Brisbane, as seen through a haze of jetlag

Queen Victoria's statue is in front of the hotel building, in the park separating it from the casino across the street. The odd reference to royalty is one of the few things that makes it obvious that I'm not in America -- that, and the cars driving on the wrong side of the street...deliberately. Prices are marked in dollars, and the traffic signs are mostly closer to American ones than they are to English signs, and so far, that's most of what I've seen.

I spent the afternoon wandering around the city, mostly in the South Bank Parklands, which is a linear park along the South Bank of the Brisbane River. It was a hot day (about 85 Farenheit or 29 Celsius), and so people enjoyed the fountains and the beach. Well, actually it's not a real beach; Brisbane doesn't have a shoreline other than the river, and so they've built a lagoon and installed a beach in the middle of the park.

There is some wildlife in the park, too, like this bird and its steel twins.

The park was the home of the Brisbane World Expo in 1988, and a few of the structures are still there, such as the Nepal Pavillion, which has some very nice flowers.

After visiting the park, I wandered back to my hotel; en route, I discovered a nearby synagogue, which is apparently quite historic.

After that, I grabbed some dinner and built this web page. Tomorrow is Tutorial Day at WWW7; we'll see if I can get up in time to get registered.

Tomorrow: The Conference Begins

The trip, day-by-day: