Brisbane Part 6: Tidbits

• Checked out the museum and art galleries.  Generally all free in Australia, which I think is great.  Did pay to see a special exhibit, the Valentino Retrospective, which was interesting.
• Some crazy dude took over one of the CityCat (river ferry) docks threatening to blow up his boat if the city didn't help him with his family problems.  No idea what sort of family problems the city can fix, but apprently that was the issue.  He claimed he would hold out for up to 2 weeks before he blew up his boat (apparently he truly believed he could stay awake that long), but lasted less than 24 hours before setting his boat on fire, stabbing himself in the gut a couple times and jumping in the water.  From which he was quickly retrieved by the police as the fire was put out by the firefighters on standby.  Not the most successful standoff for him.
• Brisbane can have some crazy downpours.  One afternoon it was so bad that I almost couldn't see the buildings just across the river from Jon and Kieran's and the satellite cut out.  Luckily I had only been about a block away from the apartment when it started so I didn't get too wet.
• Jon and Kieran took me to my first BYO restaurant.  Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but some restaurants in Australia let you bring your own booze.  This seems to typically apply to wine, but some places you can take other booze too.  So strange.
• Southbank has a beautiful pathway along the river covered by vines and flowers: