Lachen und Weinen

Yesterday was the annual holiday of ANZAC Day. Once again, the customary parade marched through the streets of Melbourne and the dawn ceremony took place at Gallipoli. There was some novelty this year, however, as the Australian Papuan campaign against the Japanese along the Kokada Trail during WWII has taken on increased significance in light of a recent movie on the subject.

We celebrated ANZAC Day by watching Sophie Scholl: Die Letzten Tage, part of the Goethe Institut's German Film Festival. And since watching the story of the last days in the lives of members of Munich's anti-Nazi White Rose resistance during WWII isn't exactly a cheery experience, we followed that with dinner at Chocolate Buddha and then caught Dave Wiggins' show (A Yank Down Under) as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival - lot's of jokes ala "Americans do this. . .", "Aussies do this. . .", and "Kiwis do this. . .". And how true it all was.