Sara Across the Pond

Camden and Parliament Hill

After the zoo, we had lunch in Camden and headed towards Hampstead Heath in search of Parliament Hill.  This hill is supposed to have a fantastic view of London.  This hill is not easy to find.

We wandered around this giant park trying to identify where we were on our tiny, useless map.  We saw the Gentlemen’s Swimming Pond and the Model Boating Pond, lots of dogs and runners, and finally a crowd of people standing on top of a hill.  Usually a crowd is a good sign.

The entire park was beautiful, though, and it was a nice peaceful way to spend the afternoon.  Parliament Hill was worth it.

The London Zoo

So we went to the zoo. On a Sunday.  There was face painting and a bouncy house.

Overall it was a lovely experience.  There weren’t any animals we hadn’t seen before (still no pandas…) but it was fun!  They’re promoting the new ‘Tiger Territory’ so there is lots of tiger hype.  Unfortunately, too much hype.  We saw one tiger sleeping and the very tip of the ear for another one.  The lions were pretty chill — lots of sleeping.  I suppose they are just big cats and cats mostly just sleep.  

We watched the giraffes get their lunch and we saw some alpacas who were recently shaved.  One of them (pictured below) did the ‘dinosaur’ like Bandit does.  

The penguins were ultra cute and very  personable.  One little Rockhopper was standing right next to the glass and seemed to be asking for food.  The otters were piled on top of each other in the sun.

The birds were creepy and while walking to see the flamingos we ran into some unnecessarily large pelicans.  One of them kept trying to fly away while the others settled in for a nap.  Big birds just aren’t okay.