Rich and Strange Aeons

I seem to have a knack for finding the really boring places in Edinburgh. I'm staying in a serviced apartment for a few days, which is nice and spacious but has poor noise isolation, crappy wifi, and a crappy shower head. Though a nice full bathtub. And today's shower ran out of hot water. Yesterday evening I went for a walk down to the docks, and it was not exciting at all. Houses and hotels -- okay, some interest looking in the windows at decor -- Salamander Street of nothingness, duller houses on the way back.

Earlier I stumbled upon my first real Tesco, not a Tesco Express or the other "hole in the urban wall" brands but a full fledge giant supermarket.

Today I was up late and didn't feel great, so running late, but went to the Edinburgh Zoo anyway. It turned out to be pretty cool, even for just two hours, though it helps if I don't think about what 13 pounds is in dollars. But it's pretty big, and has lots of nice habitats for the animals -- some so nice you can hardly see the animals. 'Nice' generally meaning "overgrown with greenery and rich in water features." The post title first part comes from a somewhat standard lorikeet aviary, where you could buy cups of nectar to attract them. Somewhat less standard for me was how aggressive they were, often flocking on people. I even had my head landed on twice and I *didn't* have any nectar. One small kid was quickly terrified of the things.

I've never seen ravens in a zoo before, that I can recall. Or at all, which made me sad. I keep wondering if I do, and get told those are crows. Edinburgh had a common raven cage, which I was happy to stumble on. Only I couldn't see the ravens. After waiting a while I turned away sadly... and then they came out! And holy crap my mother was right, they *are* big. I don't think I'll be confused about that again. Helped by a feral crow being on top of the enclosure, for some added contrast.

There's a building with a bunch of chimps, though they were mostly resting or eating. Or as one girl pointed out of one of them, "she's doing it!" There's a Living Links building for research on squirrel and capuchin monkey behavior, with two enclosures of each, for ready-made controlled experiments. The squirrel monkeys running around were cute, the capuchins even cuter, especially when one had food and another one was nearby and they kept turning or going in circles respectively. Another one had an apple which looked rather big compared to it, but it was taking big bites, though also dropping a lot to the floor. Hmm, I wonder if it was sucking juice out of its bites and spitting out the flesh.

Jaguar. Leopard. Sumatran tiger. Asiatic golden cats. Painted hunting dogs, the new PC name for African wild dogs. Lots of penguins -- you know, any place that has penguins has lots of penguins. Kind of like meerkats. A porcupine. Supposedly Eurasian beavers, but I didn't see them. African aviary -- not a walk through one, just a big enclosure with a bunch of birds, and also dik-diks, tiny antelopes.

You know, the map doesn't look that big or complex. Pretty spread out, I guess.

Staying another day to sleep more, plan more, and figure out what to do with my bag. Familyfriend returned the bag I'd left with her, and I was dismayed to feel it's almost as heavy by itself as the clothing duffel I've had in the Highlands (and which can fit inside the big bag for say, airplanes.) Goddamned language books.

If you want to know what black pudding looks like - well, there's Google Images, and I didn't take photos. But mine looked like a couple of dark and crumbly sausage patties, about hockey puck sized, more crumbly than normal sausage. Not how I imagined it, or the D&D monster named after it.

I'm in a Museum of Childhood. Unrelated to the one in London, I'm told.

The bus last night didn't have any form of stop annoucements.

Market street has lots of shops and old buildings. Including a fudge shop - and Games Workshop, the Warhammer people, the first suh store I've ever seen. I came all this way... There were two women in it, out of a dozen, both companions.

Now in St. Giles cathedral. Very confusing layout, not that I have a lot of experience with churches. Seems like the priest goes in the center with seating on both sides, but there's also parallel alcoves of seating that look like they'd be attending to someone else.
One wall has memorial plaques - including "Thank God for James Young Simpson's discovery of chloroform anesthetic in 1847" which is the best one I've seen.

Trash cans here have labeled gum traps on top. Never seen that before.
Did I mention that pretty much all public bathrooms have hot air hand dryers exclusively, with no paper towels?

(Later) Been walking around. Market Street, Grassmarket where the gallows used to be, the castle (£14 to go inside, so at 4:30 I didn't), free sample haggis (can't say that it really grabbed me; thumb-sized 'sausage' with meat and some grain in it). There's a camera obscura and illusions museum, and a Scotch whiskey tour, I could go back to.

Found the central public library. I am moderately certain that the top floor (general collection) and bottom (Scottish books and maps) combined are smaller than the Monroe County Public Library which serves maybe a fifth of the population.
Oh, I may be wrong. There's a whole separate reference library floor, and a fine arts floor too, though that one is smaller.
Library still has its card catalogs, though electronic ones too.
Bathroom had paper towels. Hah.

Found Meadows Walk, and the Meadows, what looks to be a large park. Well, lawn with paths. Right by the University of Edinburgh.

You can pay parking by card via mobile phone.

BTW, the answer to odd escalator behavior has been provided in a comment in an earlier post. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/london_film_festival/article6883065.ece