Day 15 Bridges and Pizza

I think I am a day or two off on my day count so we are just going to stick with what I’ve been doing so far.  Today was a very exciting day because we had the morning off!  That meant that we were able to sleep in and catch up on blogging, researching, emailing, and pretty much anything that you would need to use the Internet for.  So, naturally I went to the State Library of Queensland.  I know I’ve already mentioned going here before, but you should really check it out.  I think it is the nicest library I have ever been to. 

Our group was to meet at five to go on a self-guided bridge tour.  As a point of information there are sixteen bridges that cross the Brisbane River.  We had the privilege of learning about five of them.  As some of you may know, one of our professors that are traveling with us used to be a bridge designer before he was a teacher.  (For those of you who did not know that he was, now you do)  We began by looking at the Victoria Bridge.  This bridge was built in 1969 to replace a bridge that was alleviate the growing traffic of cars, pedestrians, and bicycles.  Next we walked down the river to take a look at the Kurilpa Bridge.  This is the newest of all of the bridges that cross over the Brisbane River having only been open since October of 2009.  It utilizes a unique structural design known as tensegrity.  Tensegrity is a structural principle based on based on the use of isolated components in compression inside a net of continuous tension.  To make a long story short…it looks crazy, but its really strong and really light. 

My picture

Google images picture of the bridge at night  (its a cooler picture)

From here we continued on to check out the Jolly, Merivale, and Story bridges respectively.  The Story Bridge is the most iconic of all of the bridges that we toured due to its size and age.  This massive steel truss bridge was built during the 1930s as a means to boost the economy during the depression.  It was completed in the 1940 and continues to be one of the most used bridges in Brisbane today. 

Jolly Bridge

Marivale Bridge at sunset  (iphone photography)

A view of the city from the Story Bridge

The Story Bridge at night

After our bridge tour the entire group was starving and we really wanted a good meal close to home.  There is a really good restaurant with decently priced food right underneath our hotel.  This was our first choice to dine at because they were having a $10 burger night.  (this is a really really good deal in Australia for food) As soon as we walked in they informed us that they only had two burgers left.  Strike one.  Next we attempted to eat at a restaurant that we had eaten at earlier in the week at the Brisbane Brewhouse.  When we walked in we were informed that the kitchen had just closed.  Strike two.  The bases were loaded with full stomachs and if we did not find a place to eat soon, the game would be over and we would all go home and have to settle for Mcdonald’s or something equivalent.  The pressure was on to find somewhere that would feed the appetite of 12 hungry college students.  A few shops down from the Brewhouse we stumbled upon an establishment known as Vespa’s Pizza.  It was a HOMERUN!  Pizza is always appetizing to any college student, especially American ones, and the menu looked incredible.  These were individual gormet pizzas.  I ordered one called the “char grilled beef with onion jam roast zucchini, semi dried tomatoes and mozzarella finished with aioli.” (Yes, I took a picture of the menu too so I could get it right)

Phenomenal

I devoured this entire creation of pizza goodness and finished with a big grin.  From here we decided to get one more craft beer from the Brewhouse and then call it a night since we had to meet up with the group at 7:00 a.m.  This was our last night in Brisbane and I am looking forward to seeing Melbourne!

Cheers!