I was walking near Camden Town in a somewhat overgrown section of the city when I heard a strange noise. I crept through the bushes and came across what appeared to be two people in gorilla suits sitting in a yard. That seemed a little odd but it's London so you kind of just expect it and move on. As I was creeping back out of the bushes I started to hear other odd noises. (If you click on the links beneath the pictures they will take you to a website that has info about each, as well as having some more pictures. Some are even better than mine).
At this point I'm thinking what a cool neighborhood. This had to be one of the largest dogs I've ever seen (for some reason couldn't find my glasses). There was something a little different about it but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He did seem to be enjoying his swim so I figured I had time to explore the area further while he was occupied.
Admittedly I hadn't had my coffee yet this morning but after seeing these two house cats I began to wake up a little. Where was I, certainly not in central London. I couldn't help but think of Slam (my cat) who I miss terribly. He would often lay about during the day, roaring ever so often when he was hungry.
He's (Slam) staying with my brother Joe and his wife Debi and of course the 3 monster children. Slam's not so happy with the monster children (they are really noisy) and he think's Joe is an ogre (a nice ogre, although he kind of looks like a frog in the picture above). Slam however, absolutely loves Debi so he figures he can hang in there until I get back. I think he might actually love hanging out in this jungle. Slam is a world champion bird catcher or he would be if he ever was let out of the house. Let me tell you, this area has a lot of birds.
Black-footed Penguin, Rock hopper Penguin, Grey Heron, and the Moorhen. The grey heron had just flown in when I approached. It then proceeded to eat several fish that were laying on the bank.
As I was looking at all the birds I began to notice that some seemed to be inside cages. I also began to wonder if some of these birds might not be native to England. I really needed to find some coffee and think about this.
While wondering around I found many other animals that seemed like they belonged in a zoo. This certainly seemed like a great place for one. Here are a couple of shots for those of you in DC that miss the giraffes at the National Zoo.
Below are some shots of one my favourite animals that I saw running around the neighborhood. First you have to try to spot him in the pictures below. In the second picture there is a three-toed sloth at the bottom (no really, I didn't make that part up). You will have to click on the pics in order to play along.
Hopefully you've seen the Pygmy Marmoset in both of the pictures. This little guy decided to check out the crowd of people that had gathered to watch him. Kind of made you wonder who was doing the watching here, was this place just a clever plan devised to attract humans in order for the marmosets to have something to study.
This was a great building to visit. All the animals were out and showing off. Here are a few more pictures to click on. If you are tired of animals already you are in the wrong place. Scroll down anyway just so you can say you looked at them all.
Okay, that's enough for now. I figured out (after the coffee) that I had somehow stumbled upon the London Zoo. There was a whole lot more to see than what is shown here as it's one of the must see places in London (according to me and also if you like animals). Be prepared to spend the whole day and expect huge crowds of people. Oh and get there early because the lines to get in can be huge. Also tickets prices are steep 17.50 GBP ($35), but can be halved if you can find offers from the train stations. Luckily the group of three in front of me needed a fourth to make the half price tickets worthwhile.
I just had to include these pictures. I think these are the beetles that had to clean up after the vegetarian dinosaurs that used to roam the earth a long time ago.
The next post will be about butterflies and moths since the London Zoo and the Natural History Museum both have Butterfly houses in operation this year.
2 comments:
OK coulda done without the beatles, but they were very sisyphusian...(am i even CLOSE with the spelling??)
i love me a good swimming taper, though. Great shot!
Hi Mel, I think the term is Sisyphean which is kind of what my job here in London has become.
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