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This morning we headed out to Edinburgh Zoo – about 30min out of town I suppose, it wasn’t a bad bus ride. We sat on the top of a double-decker at the front so that was a fun experience 😊 It’s a unique vantage point too because it looks like you’re going to hit everything... and I mean everything haha – cars, posts, trees, buildings lol.
The Zoo was nice – not the best I’ve been too by any means but still nice. Of course it’s on a freakin’ hill... Edinburgh is honestly like the European Seattle/San Fran.
We got to see the panda bears they just got here in Edinburgh about a year ago. You have to book a time and they bring you in by group as to not overwhelm the pandas. The female was sleeping – lazy lazy bear, but it was too cute because she rolled over and yawned for us. Meanwhile I told Em I bet everything I own the male will be sitting and eating outside... because that’s pretty much all they do in a zoo. Sure enough, that’s what he was doing.
Other than that we saw the normal zoo stuff I suppose... well... not even. They had a lot of small animals that are rare enough, and they had a kajillion different monkeys but then not the usual zoo fare of bears, lions, camels, gorillas, etc. Although they did have the other big cats.
They had some fun penguins! There were some baby ones that were adorable x100 – little fuzzballs. There was one that spent about 15min trying to figure out how to jump into the water. Another had his back to the crowd and was staring at the rock wall not moving (sleeping, I hope).
We actually saw the otters – that’s usually hard to do. There was a crow sitting in their exhibit and they kept running up near it and half jumping before running the other way. I’m surprised neither animals actually attacked the other.
I liked the rhinos myself – they were sleeping side by side in a pond/giant puddle where they were both snoring... and then one farted and made bubbles. Ehehehehe.
They had different chimps than what you normally see and they weren’t all that active for being in the play-pen area... it was sad because they were just kind of sitting there. I don’t know. I felt bad for a lot of the different animals since quite a few of them were pacing around and such... poor babies.
Heading back into town we were confronted by traffic and just barriers everywhere again... apparently William’s getting knighted today at the Cathedral. Why he’s being knighted in Scotland, I do not know. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know that they knighted the royals... so that was kind of a surprise too. We didn’t try to join in the fun – we just wandered back to the hostel for a late lunch before heading up to the bus station.
(Fun fact: you can buy haggis flavoured potato chips. I did not have the heart to try them. I feel it would ruin my haggis experience.)
(Another fun fact: we’ve mastered the art of jaywalking in the UK now. I was already pretty used to it from just being here in May, but Em’s totally on board now. Feel like locals all the way!)
Bus ride to Belfast was nice yet kind of a surprise..? Haha. There were only like 6 of us from Edinburgh to Glasgow – all the seats for us! We loaded up in Glasgow but still managed to keep our spots to ourselves – yay for spreading out. It poured rain most of the drive – at least we weren’t stuck walking in it today.
I finally got to see some of my Highland Cows!! I saw three on the drive – they’re like big brown yaks. I want one.
We got to the ferry terminal and checked-in no problems... except apparently my name is now Desjardons. Honhonhon. That is most definitely a new one... never heard it before.
As we were waiting to embark the ferry we had a grand revelation... after months of planning we realized we’re taking the ferry straight to Belfast and not an actual bus anywhere which means our directions were useless. Epic fail for me... how silly to think that by booking a bus to Belfast we’d arrive at the sea port. But that’s ok – taxi time it is.
The ferry-ride was quite lovely and relaxing – we sat by a window and just watched the waves roll by. We went outside for a few photos but it was raining (quelle surprise!) and quite windy.
I ended up grabbing a Guinness on board – I figured for £2 I couldn’t go wrong. I had a nice little chat with the bar guy while I waited for my beer to settle (I didn’t know it had to..?) He asked where I was from and such and if I liked Guinness... kind of a silly question considering I’m buying it. He told me it will taste better in Belfast, but that this one will taste better than what I have at home. Fair enough. We also talked about the weather – when I asked if it’s been raining in Belfast he laughed and said for two weeks straight. Awesome. Apparently it’s not usually like this but that our timing is just great...
Sooooo I guess this is pay back for my 11 days of no-rain in Wales in May?
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Irene
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Zoo fun
Ok, for your birthday I'm getting you a farting rhino and a Highland Cow. (We might need a bigger apartment!)