Gertie

I wish we’d just stayed at the pub. We’d purchased the tickets online, so we didn’t have to wait in line, but we did have to wait about 20 minutes for enough people to show up to qualify as a ‘group’.

The last people in were a couple with a young infant. I was worried for the child’s mental well-being, but also worried it would cry the whole time and ruin the experience. Turns out that the baby saved it from being complete shite because it giggled at all of the ‘scary’ things so I at least had a bit of a laugh.

When we entered the facilities they had my friend stand in the stockade and I had to hold the rubber axe and pretend to chop off her head. This was done with the hopes we would fork over additional money to purchase this photograph as a souvenir. Didn’t happen.

Then on to the waiting room, where we waited.

And waiting.

And waited some more.

Finally we were off to the Dungeons!

We were ushered into a mock 17th century court room and forced to sit through badly scripted trials utilising members from our group.

After being warned for the second time that the actors won’t touch us so don’t touch them, we were moved to another room to another actor spouting insults (oooh, scary) and demonstrating various torture techniques by once again using members from our groups.

On to the highly malodorous actor who shouted a lot and played with the plastic body parts. Or maybe that was the autopsy doctor? We had a 30 second boat tour admist more shouting and sniffing characters and then the best part of getting into the ride to simulate dropping from the hangman’s noose. This is where they took yet another photo, available for purchase of course.

Yawn.

Save your money and book the City of the Dead Graveyard tour instead (John, the guide, is fantastic).

At first it seemed quite small to me, in comparison to the Woodland Park Zoo, but tonight when I looked up the info for each I found out that there is actualy only a 10-acre difference (WPZ 92 acres, EZ 82).

The Edinburgh Zoo has some nice attractions, my favorite being the Penguin parade, and I also enjoyed getting to walk out over the Zebra habitat.

I could wish the light had been better, but it was warm enough and not raining so I think I lucked out well with the weather. If I lived in Edinburgh I would take advantage of the location and pop in on a sunny day during the week.

located on the outer Firth of Forth, this wee island is owned by the Scottish Natural Heritage and maintained as a National Nature Reserve. To get to there, we caught the “May Princess” ferry in Anstruther, Fife. In under 1 hour we arrived at the island, where we were greeted by a ranger who gave a quick talk about what they do there and also how important it was to pack out our rubbish and keep inside the blue trail markings (don’t want to step on and crush any wee birdies).

The sail across was mild, and I had high hopes for it clearing up, unfortunately it did not. It only rained for a brief time (just to the left of me, so funny enough my right side remained dry) but otherwise we did okay for the weather.

After the chat the group headed off to the right, so my friends and I immediately turned left. Took all of one minute before I became separated, but as we were on a small island with a set time to meet at the boat, I didn’t worry about trying to catch up to them.

I arrived at the cliffside and the view was simply breathtaking. It may not have been sunny, but the choppy green sea and deep grey clouds set nicely against the enormous basalt and greenstone rock. Then, the very first puffin I see has a beak full of sand eel, and I could hardly contain the schoolgirl squeal that bubbled up!

He was very patient with the photo taking, most likely because we were blocking his access to the nest. The seagulls were starting to circle and I worried for the wee fella so I moved away to give him some room.

So many different species of birds on this island—puffins, guillemots, razorbills, shags, cormorants, pigeon, and terns; as well as Grey seals and rabbits.

I hiked past the foghorn and over to the lighthouse (there are two), got a bit closer to the edge of a cliff than I was comfortable with, saw one dead rabbit, and then discovered a seagull’s nest with an egg in it. I was walking down the trail and saw a large seagull sort of back in and out of this hole in the ground, so I slowed a bit in the hopes I wouldn’t scare him. As I approached he took off and I happened to glance down to where he was (guess I should say she) and saw a large egg. I was so startled but only had time to snap a quick shot because she wasn’t too pleased with me hanging about and I was fast approaching the danger of being pecked.


I headed back to the visitor centre to make a quick loo stop and then continued on up another hill where I chose to stop for lunch. Camera stowed safely away, I kicked back and enjoyed my meal while watching the puffins fly to and fro. They really don’t land smoothly, so its quite a comical thing to see.


Too soon it was time to head back to the dock, but as we pulled away I got a closer look at some of the seals, one basking on the rocks and several more bobbing around in the water as they followed our boat. Once away from the shores the water turned more than choppy, so I slipped inside to get away from the spraying waves. Swaying back and forth, and knackered from 3 hours of play in the fresh air, it wasn’t long before I fell asleep, napping the entire journey back to Anstruther.

I’m definitely up for going back, hopefully with sunny weather, and this time I’m going to have a much better lens with me…

VIDEO

saw the BBC article and decided to take some shots, maybe preserve a bit of history.

Outrage over plan to relocate cemetery remains

Bodies moved for business centre

I was searching for the URLs to include links in a recent chimpanzee post and was gutted to stumble across this article, informing me that Washoe had died (last year!).

For those who don’t know, Washoe was the first non-human to acquire a human language (American Sign Language). I got to meet her briefly last year, and it is sad to think that so many others will miss out on that amazing experience.

Aw, man, I guess I’m going to have a wee cry now.

I attended the one-hour chimposium in which you spend 30 minutes covering “the Free-living chimpanzee culture, Threats to free-living and captive chimpanzees, Chimpanzee sign language conversations, and Project Washoe—traced from its inception to the present”; spend 20 minutes with the chimps, and 10 minutes in a Q&A session. Did you know that their genetic makesup matches humans 98.77%, and that where we differ lies within our immune system? That is why, depsite the immense similarity, they do NOT make good research ‘animals’.

We arrived early, so I walked around the exterior and took photographs of the sanctuary. I also snuck one pic from inside the classroom [all to follow], but there is absolutely no photography allowed of the chimps (super bummer). This is a sanctuary dedicated to the comfort of the chimps—so their needs always come first.

Class started with a video of Moja, who passed away in 2002, and followed by a presentation and a second video. Then we were instructed as to appropriate ‘chimp manners’, which meant we had to walked into the observation area with bent legs and dropped shoulders/arms. We were allowed to smile, but reminded that showing teeth is considered hostile and asked to use our lips to cover our teeth. If any of the chimps became upset we should sign “love you” to help diffuse the situation. Heh.

Our group shuffled in and I got to see Washoe and Loulis, who quickly grew tired of us and went through the doorway to observe the other group. During the group swap I got to stand alone near the window and glanced up to see Dar hiding out in a high hammock—and (major highlight to my day) he waved hellow to me!

We only get 20 minutes to observe (and be observed) and then it was back to class to for Q& A. I hit the gift shop, of course, and picked up postcards of each chimp (except Washoe because I mistakenly got two of one), and a couple cards from their paintings.

Definitely worth the two hour drive. I only wish I’d had the time and moolah to attend the 5-hour chimposium.

Go here to read more about these amazing primates.

I’ve studied ASL and am interested in the communication between humans and chimps using this language. I’ve just booked to attend the 1-hour chimposium on Saturday, April 28th. I really wanted to attend the 5 hour one, but as I couldn’t get anyone to attend with me at that cost (both time and money) or loan me their car for the weekend, I’ll have to settle for the 1-hour session.

My friend and I are going to drive over on Friday night and catch the second session. Photography is not allowed inside, but I’ve been told I can take pictures of the area, etc. I’m very excited about this.

Port Townsend is a fun little port town (hence the name), and this festival is heavily particpated in by townsfolk and visitors alike. This year is was raining heavily, so the streets were rather empty for photo ops.

My sister and I pulled into town and had just parked in a front spot on the street when we heard drumming behind us. Appears we arrived just in front of the wee parade… everyone was so nice about having their picture taken, so depsite the rain it was still a worthwile photography outing.

It’s a photo opportunity

March 16th-18th, 2007

The entire sea-side town costumes up for a celebration of their Victorian era architecture. Ought to be worth a few pictures!

today I’m walking up the Royal Mile and when I paused to wait while a flickr buddy was taking a photo—I looked across the street and saw this place. SO, it didn’t close, it just moved. I will probably check this out when I get back from Seattle.