Bristol Zoo, 23rd November 2003

While Alison was away at a family workshop with Isaac, John and May decided to visit Bristol Zoo. It's something we do quite often, but with two children opportunities to take photos are limited, so John made the most of it! It was a cold, cloudy day which grew gradually wetter:

First we headed to the aquarium (a perennial favourite), partly because it was under cover! I soon found that flash photos didn't work through the glass, although they produced some interesting effects:

(in case you're wondering, the diver was cleaning the windows!)

And to the monkey house:

Since we were nearby, we took a look at the penguins and seals before lunch. Last time we came a penguin had got out onto the path and was proving how vicious a frightened bird can be - May had to stop Isaac trying to stroke it - but things were calmer this visit:

(John was particularly proud of this anemone picture)

We stopped by to check out the hippo on the way to the restaurant - John had to be quick to snatch a shot between dives:

After lunch, May got her face painted as a bat - she has previously been a tiger (also shown), a leopard and a ladybird, but this was the first time we thought of eating beforehand, so the effect lasted much longer (until the obligatory afternoon ice cream, in fact):

It was very cold and starting to rain hard by now, so we went to the reptile house to warm up (one of the few places John hadn't seen before):

The weather showed no sign of improvement so we decided to leave early, but had a last look round the Wallace aviary and the Brazilian zone (including the capybaras) on the way out:

We'd had a lot of fun while we were there, but it was now definitely time to go home.