D26: London Zoo + 1984

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Ahhhhhh. I've never been to the London Zoo and decided today would be the day. It didn't disappoint 😊

I got to see a lot of animals you don't always get to see at a zoo. Anteaters are ginormous... I knew they were big but I didn't think that large. Same with these African porcupines... they were the size of a large dog. Ooooh and coaties (so spelling that wrong) are adorable.

I have to say it's pretty glorious going to a zoo with the new camera. I got a ton of lovely shots of the usual - penguins, cheetahs, meerkats, giraffes etc. The lions and tigers were snoozing both times I went over. Oh well.

Their male pygmy hippo is named Thug. That is pretty great.

Their gibbons were singing in the morning - I got it on video, it's quite the chant they have. Apparently they do it every morning to "keep other gibbons out of their zoo". Important thing that is. All the monkey exhibits were quite great actually - they even had a "monkey walk" where a bunch of those small yellow/tan monkeys are free to walk about and climb the trees around the guests - obviously you're not allowed to touch them and there are zoo staff around to make sure you don't but it's amazing to see them walk around less than a foot away. Aw, and one of them had a baby on her back, so adorable.

It was also a lot of fun to watch kids at the petting zoo (I was eating my lunch nearby the gates). It's cute how excited they are to touch a goat. Or whatever.

I watched a few shows since I was spending the day. I got to see the penguins eat a giant "fish ice lolly". And saw an aardvark (god I wish his name was Arthur) slurping some weird gunk of food.

I also watched this "animal tricks" show which basically shows you how they train some animals. They had rats scamper about whixh had a fair chunk of the audience eeping and icking. They had a gorgeous owl fly about - low, just above our heads. They're such majestic creatures. Next there were some meerkats busy about, watching ever on guard.

And there was a beautiful parrot - one of those vibrant red ones with some green feathers and a long long tail. They're incredibly intelligent - I didn't really expect that. It flew about as well but they skim - in the wild they fly just above the tree tops so that's what the parrot did with us - fly just above our heads. He also showed off his climbing abilities - they have four toes to help them properly grip and they also use their beak which I never knew... I mean I just never pictured them climbing/descending trees. The parrot hung upside down for us with one claw, hung himseld by his beak (which was incredible) and climbed upside along a rope by using his claws and his beak to kind of sway along. Really cool.

After the zoo I popped over to Harrods (ha, again) for my last London treat, went to grab some supper and then headed off towards Embankment/Charing Cross. I found the theatre quicker than expected so I went down to Trafalgar Square just to kill some time. Sadly, my camera then died on me... I haven't charged it for 2 days and yesterday I took... 400 photos? I'm afraid to find out how many I took today.

The play tonight was 1984 - I was curious and excited for this one. Curious how they turned it into a play and excited because I remember enjoying the book in high school.

The play was good. I think the story is so relevant to the world we live in - many parallels can be drawn. In that regard it's a timely play and the story itself is still great. I wasn't a fan of the lighting or production itself... there were too many strobe lights, screching mechanical noises and blinding light. I found it distracted from the story - it was used too often for too long. (I'm honestly stunned I didn't see warnings for people with epilepsy or the sort... like it was serious strobe lights to the point it felt uncomfortable.) I did like the set design though and using the screens - that fit in well with the story.

So, that's that. I'm on a train back to my hostel and am 100% in denial that I leave London tomorrow.

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