On Friday, at 11:45, I turned in my last assignment for the week, thus ending the worst week ever. The plan was to wander around town a bit, enjoying the weather and being happy about not being stuck writing essays forever, but then it RAINED. On my (metaphorical) parade. So, I walked home, because I had left some stuff I needed to run errands with there, anyway, but, after I got there, decided to wait to go into town until the rain stopped. And I took a LONG nap. Well, only a couple of hour, but I hadn't slept at all the previous night, so it was quite nice. When I got up, I forced myself to go into town, to get to the post office before it closed. It's a very bizarre post office. It's like a CVS, with a post office in the back. Maybe not a CVS. They sell books and stationary and mostly various paper goods, and some candy and soda. I converted the last of my American money to pounds, because I really needed £5 and didn't want to have to take money out of an ATM, since it's rather expensive to do so. I also bought some postcards and stamps.
Also, I learned yesterday that ALL ATMs give out £10 notes here. I thought that it was just the one by the Union that did, so I always used that one, even thought it's often out of £10 notes, and now I feel really silly. Especially after finding out that the ATM near Tesco offers £5 notes. I was astonished. Also, now I'm mad about all the times I couldn't take out exactly the amount of money I wanted, just because I used the stupid Union ATM. Oh well. Now I know.
So, the zoo. Yesterday, the Albany Park Committee hosted a trip to the Edinburgh Zoo. It is the only zoo in the UK to have pandas and koalas. Those are two of my favorite animals (I also love otters and big cats). We got on the bus at 9am, and off we went. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Edinburgh, and luckily, we didn't run into much traffic. Upon our arrival, we were informed by Dan, the head of the committee, that we would not be able to see the pandas, as we had not reserved tickets to see them (it's free to see the pandas, but you have to get tickets for viewing time slots). That was a bit upsetting. Upon receiving maps of the zoo, we found inserts telling us that, as they were doing major renovation on the penguin exhibit, there would be no penguin parade. That was sad, too. But still, we were at the zoo! We were told to meet back at the bus at 5, and into the zoo we went. The zoo is on a huge hill, but there is a bus that will take you up to the top or back down. A group of us decided to take the bus to the top, and then make our way back down to the bottom. Some of the animals were hard to find, but the way the zoo is set up, you can view most enclosures from several sides, so often a quick walk to the other side of the enclosure will enable to find an animal. The animals were all feeling particularly frisky (except the koalas, they're lazy bums), and a few seemed rather keen on mating. There were also quite a few babies. The zoo has a TON of monkeys. They have at least 4 different areas with large monkey exhibits. Monkeys are usually my least favorite animals, before reptiles, but I actually enjoyed most of them. Sometimes I think it's a bit weird to have monkeys in zoos, because they're so much like people, and it feels invasive watching them in their exhibits. Anyway, by about 4:10, we had seen all of the animals, and were back at the entrance. We decided to go to the panda exhibit and ask if they would let us in. When we got there, there was only a small group of people waiting for the next viewing, so we got in line. They announced that that group would be the last viewing of the day, and that it was a nice small group. When they started collecting people's tickets and letting them in, we asked if we could go in, even without tickets. They said that there was plenty of space, so sure. We all did little jumps for joy, and went in. They have a keeper give a short talk about the pandas, and how the zoo got them, and conservation, and then they take you into the pandas' indoor area. They had just gotten their dinner, and so were sitting inside, eating. We stayed there for a bit, and then, as the pandas went outside, we went around to the outside viewing area. At about 4:40, we left to stop in the gift shop before going back to the bus. I considered buying some postcards, but the line was way too long.
Then, we went to dinner at Zucca, a fancy Italian restaurant near the Lyceum theatre. I think most of us were in agreement that we'd rather have gone somewhere less fancy (typical Albany sentiment - cheaper is better), but it is nice to go to fancy restaurants sometimes. We were allowed to get a two course meal, or pay £3 extra for three courses. I decided against dessert. I got bruschetta as a starter, served on fresh baked focaccia. It was really good. For my entree, I had grilled chicken with gnocchi and rocket (arugula) in lemon and thyme sauce. It was okay, but I wished had gotten something else. Gnocchi isn't really my thing. The chicken was good, though. After everyone who had gotten any had finished their dessert, we headed back to the bus to return to St Andrews, getting back to Albany at 9:30. Overall, a most excellent day.
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