Gelatomassi Madness

Had dinner with Kirsten, Jon and Minette tonight and after dinner I decided I had to take them to Gelatomassi as they can't come to Newtown and not have some of the fabulous gelati on offer at Gelatomassi. Sal and Ciccio (the lovely Kinga was unfortunately not working tonight) were in fine form and I think Kirsten, Jon and Minette can now understand why I go so there often. Yes the gelato is amazing, but it's also about the atmosphere.

The picture today is one of the carvings which makes up the Gal Vihara (or Stone Shrine) in Polonnaruwa. There are 4 carvings in total - all carved from the same piece of rock. Unfortunately I found it really difficult to get a good picture of the 7m-tall standing Buddha, but I think this shot is pretty good. I have a picture of the 14-m-long carving of a reclining Buddha, which is one of the most celebrated sights in Sri Lanka. However, I'm having some trouble uploading two images, so I might have to leave that one for next time.

It was a very grey and wet day in Sydney yesterday, so after lunch I decided to go and see the Sunday afternoon film at the Art Gallery of NSW, which this week happened to be the iconic Australian film 'Puberty Blues' - a portrayal of teenage life in the early 80s set in Cronulla in suburban Sydney (although some would argue that Cronulla is not part of Sydney, but a world unto itself!). It's a film that I'd always heard about, but had never seen, so when I remembered it was on I had to go. Some of it was a little dated (including some pretty bad examples of what passed for fashionable in the early 80s) but it was an interesting film, which I imagine would have been very contraversial when it was first released. Australia has definitely changed a lot since then - mostly for the better. There are actually a number of Australian films - all set in Sydney I think - which are showing over the next few weeks - many by now well-know directors - so I might have to see a few more.

More pictures coming soon...