City Centre, Adelaide

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Favorite thing: This stunning church, built in the 1900s, is on the corner of King William Road and Pennington Terrace, North Adelaide. It was modeled on the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The spires of the cathedral are 51 metres high. There are fine stain-glass windows throughout depicting Australian scenes as well as stories from the bible. It is one of few churches left that uses bell ringers. People come from all over the world to learn to do this. It is a beautiful sound. I especially like hearing them when and couple have just married. The church also boasts one of Australia's leading choirs.
You can take tours of the Cathedral every Sunday at 2pm.

Fondest memory: 27 King William Road, North Adelaide SA 5006

http://www.stpeters-cathedral.org/

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Favorite thing: One of my Aussie guidebooks says that Adelaide "has a reputation as a quieter place than some of the other state capitals" and that "it's something of a throwback to the comfortable lifestyle of the 1950s". I'm not sure about the 50s, but there's an air of peace and tranquility to this lovely capital city. The main part of Adelaide is scenically placed within an area of 6 x 8 city blocks. Almost anywhere you'd wish to go in downtown Adelaide, or on the surrounding ring terrace streets is easily accessible via foot. And in most cases, it's a very pleasant walk, as you'll pass shops, parks and quiet in-town residential areas.

As I say, Adelaide has a very pleasing combination of larger city amenities and small-town feel. It's the reason that I'd probably settle here if I moved to Australia.

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Favorite thing: There are two universities located just within the city center of Adelaide. It may turn out that they're somehow inter-related, but of that I'm not sure. They are the UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE and THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. The building around both universities were so visually pleasing to me, reminding one so much of an English or US Ivy League scene.

We enjoyed walking around the university's campus and peeking into some of the old "Oxford-ish" halls.

Fondest memory: OK, I did imagine what it would be like to attend school in Adelaide. I suppose I'd love the town and location, but would eventually miss dearly my addiction to American college football. : )

Favorite thing: NOTE: The photo below is a wide-format shot. Please click on the photo for full-effect viewing. : )

This is a bit of continuation on the "getting around on foot" tip that precedes.....

My personal favorite form of exercise and fitness is to walk. I have a personal goal of 5 millions steps a year, and in doing so, I've been able to reasonably maintain weight as I advance in years. So much for the walking as exercise commercial. ;)

Adelaide was such a wonderful place to walk. There were gentle neighborhoods, city streets, suburban shops and parks, school athletic fields... all sorts of interesting places to log steps. So, if and when you visit Adelaide, prepare yourself for an excellent opportunity to just walk.

Fondest memory: The morning that this photo was taken was especially quiet. I believe it was a Sunday morning, and the weather was still cool, a bit damp and misty. I'd left our cottage behind and gone out for an hour's walk or so. I came upon a local school cricket field, and saw this group of colorful birds feeding on the misty, glistening turf. Not being much of a birder myself, I took the photo anyway, knowing that my daughter and wife would set me straight on the species in my viewfiender. It turns out that they were pink-throated gahlas, which appear to my untrained-eye to be a festive member of the pigeon family??

Favorite thing: North Tce holds so much of our history in one beautiful road.
Its one of Adelaides loviest city streets and it is exactly one mile long.It also is the home to some of our most treasured tourist attractions.
Adelaides oldest church, built in 1838, just after the arrival of the first settlers, is on this road.The church is called Anglican Holy Trinity Church.
Some of our most glamorous hotels are also located here. The Raddison Hotel and the Hyatt hotel are two of them. Right next door to the Hyatt, is our beautiful Railway Station and the Sky City casino.
Parliament House is set on the corner of North Tce and King William st. On the other corner is the grand architectural stucture which is Government House. A little further down is our War Memorial,that is truly worth a visit.
The state Library is a great place to spend a few hours, and right next to this is the Adelaide Museum and the Art Gallery. Adelaide University stands proudly just up the road..
At the end is our beautiful Botanical Gardens.
You could easily spend a day just exploring one wonderful road.

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Favorite thing: The city of Adelaide calls itself "The City of Churches", and with good reason. There are numerous large and small houses of worship dotted throughout the city proper. With few exceptions, a visit to each one is worth a few moments of your time. Adelaide's Scots Church is no exception.

The building itself was opened, as the Chalmers Church, in 1851. Subsequent additions included the spire and bell in 1864. Remodeling and renovations occurred throughout the 20th century.

Among the church points of interest are:
The massive oak communion table, dedicated in 1928.

The font, carved in Adelaide from Italian Cararra marble, with a removable silver bowl. The rim of the bowl carries four panels, each with an engraved symbol. The bowl's craftsman was an 81 year old Frenchman living in Sydney, Louis Somme. He died one day after finishing the bowl.

A beautiful pipe organ, installed in 1900.

The pulpit, carved in 1912 from a single piece of solid timber by John K. Blogg of Melbourne. Carved into the pulpit is the image of the burning bush.

Fondest memory: The rainy and windy afternoon that we stepped into the Scots Church was a noisy one on the streets of Adelaide. The weather, coupled with the city noises seem to have created a din that had begun to wear on weary tourists from America. A few moments inside the peaceful Scots Church was literally a breath of fresh air. We were the only persons in the building for the entire time we visited, some 20 minutes or so. And perhaps, that was the Scots Church purpose for OUR visit to Adelaide. As is said in the church's visitor's brochure, "please feel free to use the church if you feel the need of a quiet time". It served the purpose quite nicely. : )

Also from the "visitors brochure", I add the following contact information:

Minister, the Rev Judity A. Gilliland, B.A., M.Ed, M.Div
(unlike the Catholic Church, the Uniting Church of Australia has embraced
the concept of female ministry!)

Church office, telephone 08 8223 1505, fax 08 8232 6816
admin@scotschurch.org.au

237 North Terrace, Adelaide
(at the corner with Pulteney Street)

The church is open daily, Tuesday-Friday from 9 am - 4 pm

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Favorite thing: Located on North Terrace, between the State Library and the Art Gallery of South Australian, the South Australia Museum has an interesting and varied collection of exhibits. Of particular interest are the items dedicated to and representing the country's aboriginal culture and peoples. Additionally, there are many items culled from the Papua New Guinea area, including some shrunken heads and such. (see photo below)

We didn't do so, but I understand that "behind the scenes/afterhours tours" are available at the SA Museum. The cost is A$12 for adults. Length is approximately 2 hours.

As for the museum's regular hours and admissions policy.... admission is FREE, and the museum is open daily from 10 am - 5 pm. It's closed on Good Friday and Christmas. For more information, contact the museum at telephone 08 8207 7500

Fondest memory: OK, I really, really liked all of the headhunter stuff in the Papua New Guinea exhibits. There are also extensive collections of exotic butterflies, minerals, preserved birds and such. Sadly, some of the preserved animals are now extinct.

Favorite thing: Adelaide has a couple of unique features (as far as I'm aware); the airport is fairly close to the city centre and the main interstate highway from the south-east doesn't encounter the main settled areas also until a fairly short distance from the city (Glen Osmond). Someone visiting Adelaide who doesn't go outside of the city or Glenelg may carry away the mistaken impression that Adelaide is like a medium size town which happens to have a lot of tall buildings, and that Glenelg is a satellite town.
This is not the case, a person travelling from the north has to drive through suburbs for almost half an hour until they get to the city, even more for people travelling from the south along the Fleurieu Peninsula. Adelaide is quite large in terms of surface area, the suburbs may not stretch very far east or west but they do north and south.