A day at the zoo

Yesterday we went to the London zoo. It was the first time for Jim and Evie and the first time for me during the summer (last time I went it was December or something).
Evie isn't used to facing forward in her stroller, so sometimes she gets a little frustrated that she can't see us. We held hands for a little while on our walk to the zoo.


We decided to make a pit stop/crawl break on Primrose Hill.


Evie attracted the attention of an 18 month old boy (not pictured). He thought it was funny to try to push Evie over. She seemed unfazed. Fortunately, he left.


Then the real fun started!


Trees always play a key role in any walk that we take.


After paying a small fortune to get into the zoo, we headed for the aquarium, which was the most interesting part, according to Evie.





She also was intrigued by the butterflies:


Things were getting a little dire, but then we found the elephant! (just ignore that sign behind me). That elephant made me car sick.


Shoulders are also always fun.

As are shoulders combined with otters. The otters were equally as interested in Evie.



At first I thought the lemurs were raccoons. They have deceptive tails.


Jim refused to pose as a chimp, so I had to go it alone.


Later he found his long lost brother.


It was a good day and the only way to end it was with a drink in a posh pub in Primrose Hill.

Olympics Tour

Last weekend was the London Open House, a weekend long opportunity to tour all the places in London you've ever dreamed of touring FOR FREE! (if you can get a ticket)

Jim got me two tickets, so our friend Keren joined me on a jaunt down to the Olympic park. We had our own personal tour guide.


Evie wants to be in the Olympics one day. She's well on her way to winning speed crawling awards world-wide.


Seagulls on the roof of the exhibition center.


Eventually, we left Jim and Evie behind (no under 8's allowed on the tour) and hopped on the bus:


I took the tour about a year and a half ago, when the Olympics site was still just a big hole in the ground, so even though they said the same things they said when there weren't any buildings, it was nice to see the buildings instead of having to use my imagination (which is not very good when it comes to these things). This is some building that will have a living wall. The piece on top of the building is actually a sculpture by a German artist. It's his vision of the Olympic rings in sound.


This is the Olympic Village which will be totally high tech with Wi-fi and running tracks and a British style green and all of the amenities...but we couldn't get a straight answer about whether or not there will be air conditioning (I suspect yes, but Keren was critical).


This is the IBC/NBC Centre, in which can fit 5 jumbo jets and from which 4 billion people across the world will get news and footage from the Olympics. This building is a big deal apparently, because we passed it (and heard about it) three times on our tour.


The stadium! I can't remember how many people will fit into it, but it's a lot. Then, after the Olympics, they'll take out a bunch of the seats and it will be used by the London community. UNLESS London wins the World Cup bid. If that happens, plans will change and the seats will stay. The stadium is on an island and people will go over bridges to get into it. All of the vendors and goods and services will be housed in brightly colored structures that look like giant M&Ms (not built yet, but we saw the model).


Jim's favorite building: the aquatics center. You can see that it looks very aquatic so far (in a transformers kind of way).


Even though I can't use my imagination as effectively as I would like, I can say that it all sounds very exciting. They are trying to make the site as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible and I think it will be a nice park once it is all finished. I hope we'll get to see it all up and running!

The day that Jim broke my camera

One day, Jim decided to document his bike ride to work.

Safety first! Jim always (mostly) wears his flourescent vest and mostly (sometimes) remembers his helmet. He forgot his helmet in this picture.


He flies down Rosslyn Hill at top speed (coming back up is another story):


In Camden, he hops onto the canal path. The sun shines off of the canal. It's way too early for much to be happening in London.


Through a tunnel (cool picture, Jim!)

And into Islington and beyond.

Every day he sees this guy fishing.


First catch of the day-- a 3 foot pike! (he throws them back)


The canal path continues through Hackney.


He knows he's getting close to work when it starts to look like this:


But then...Victoria Park!


And...CRACK. Somehow, just as he is arriving at the office, he loses his grip and the camera falls, in slow motion, to the ground. It looks ok! Let the picture taking continue!

Errr...


That night he sheepishly handed me my brand new camera: