International Film Festival at the Civic

In this post, we're going inside the historic Civic Theater. Allie has been there several times and she took Amiri to a show there recently, but the rest of us had yet to see this unique bit of Auckland. You may recall that it's located on Queen Street. 

Allie had purchased tickets for us to attend part of the International Film Festival that has been going on here. We would see just over an hour of animated shorts from all over the world. The best of the best. 

And it was top notch. The cartoons were aimed at kids naturally, but the quality of the story telling and the artwork was so good that we adults loved it as much as the kids did. Another nice thing about our adventure was that we got to explore the building. Not quite as much as I would have liked. We couldn't get to the balcony area of the theater, but what we saw was impressive. 

So, come along as we explore. 

There is underground parking nearby and the weather was good for our short way over. It seemed like about half the streets of downtown Auckland are closed off due to either resurfacing or the Britomart train expansion excavations going on, but Allie was able to make her way regardless.   

Just inside the main entrance.

A mural in the entrance. 

Here we are finding our seats and getting comfortable.  We are early, so we have time to poke around for a little while. 

Impressive, huh?

The boys liked that the lion's eyes are lit from within. That's not reflected light that you see. 

I suppose that this is where the Queen sits when she is in town. 

I'm sure there are much better pictures on-line of this ceiling, but here is mine.  The twinkling lights re-create the night sky above Auckland. (I haven't been able to find the date and time the sky reflects however.) 

It's after the show now, so let's go upstairs and see if it's as nice as what we've seen so far.

Allie sometimes likes to do an impression of the Queen, saying, "Oh my." 
Well, that sums up my reaction too, to this place, but it would have come out as, "Holy Mackeral, look at this place!"  

I read that the architectural style is Moorish Revival, but there are also Hindu Arches used. 

 Every inch is decorated.

You may recall how, in my recent post entitled Fujisan, I told you about loving to explore what's inside buildings. Well, I hit the jackpot here. 
This narrow passage between pillars leads to other rooms and passages and ultimately to a bar. I counted three bars as we explored on this floor. We didn't get up to the highest level, nor down into the "basement' level. Who knows what else there is? (I wish I did.) 

Don't knock over that vase whatever you do. 

Off the passageways or corridors are little alcoves. At the intermission of shows I imagine that these fill up with people sipping drinks.

People walk around this place with their mouths open in astonishment most of the time. Oh, I'm told that it was only me doing that. Well, I was astonished. 

Looking up in a central area. 
Before we got here today, Amiri had mentioned 'counting the elephants.' to Arram. I hadn't understood what he meant. But now, seeing this place, I think it would be quite an undertaking to do such a count. 

It just keeps going around and all over. I would have liked to have had a seat for a while, probably with an appropriate beverage and just soaked in the ambiance of the place. People have been walking these corridors since 1929. 

Our happy group looking over a balcony. 

Same group, What a balcony!

Overlooking the entrance. 

Time to go to lunch. 
Just as we were leaving, I saw a young man dressed in a suit and tie, and wearing Civic identification around his neck, come out of an unmarked door in the corner of a wall. He carefully closed it again after him. I don't know what his job is but he clearly has access to the hidden portions of the place. What a feeling it must be to be a part of this magnificent structure and know it's secrets.  

Despite the popcorn and ice cream at the theater, young bodies, and older ones too, need more substantial nourishment. We headed down to an Asian food court, located about a block from the theater, where we enjoyed an assortment of sushi, noodles, a tea-egg and sandwiches. 

Finally, we topped off our meals with boba tea (bubble-tea) from Quickly Fresh, also in the food court.  

Leaving town we passed a sculpture that represents a pohutukawa flower. 
Thanks Allie for a wonderful day. Your boys will remember such adventures forever.