It’s mid March now, which means we were just celebrating another year of Canberra’s birthday at the Nation’s Capital. From end of February to the first weeks of March (which ended last weekend), Canberra was ‘bustling’ with activities and festivities. I always welcome the annual Enlighten weeks, and furthermore, every year there’s always something different that’s being featured all over town.

We had Sienta la Cabeza and acrobatics at the Aero Dome last year, this year we had a whole lot more interesting stuff. Find the full list of event calendar here to see what you missed. But seriously, please remember to check out this site next year to see a totally different look of Canberra and experience the fun.

This year I was really impressed with the Fiers a Cheval show. These French performance performed as puppeteers and attached to the gigantic inflatable horse puppets. The horses were raised on their hindquarters and stood 12 feet tall. Basically they were like big horse-shaped balloons. The ‘puppeteers’ moved with music in a choreographed dance-like movement. The horses moved as if they were underwater. They were trotting and galloping around the field; so big, and yet their movement were so fluid. I was at awe.

Dramatic horses in dramatic lights.

After their last bow the puppeteers deflated the horses, folded it and tied it securely in front of them so they could easily carry the bulk; they stood up and ended by the show by walking away. Amazing.

It was a good fun and a nice experience to sit with my family amongst the happy crowd that night. It was quite late, the show started after 9PM, and we were sitting on the grass in the field, and  the enlightened buildings were around us. We grabbed coffee right after at the National Portrait Gallery Cafe and continued our stroll in the Fire Garden.

It was a good night.