Penguins are still the best.

Pals S&M bought us tickets to Edinburgh Zoo for my birthday and there's no time like the present so we went to check out the animals.  Definielty better weather over on the east side today, pretty much as soon as we crossed the Lothian border the rain ceased / started again.

Stupidly, I hadn't checked my camera battery and it ran out two animals into the visit.  I got some blurry chimps through the mucky windows and a blurry sloth due to the steam in the sloth house. Ah well, you don't have to blip everything to enjoy it.

We spent a good few hours exploring the zoo.  Saw one of the pandas in a very panda pose - fast asleep on a platform with a paw over its face.  Could've been stuffed for all we knew.  But my favourites were the giant anteater who gave me and P a personal glimpse having a wander is a quiet areas of their enclosure whilst no one else was around.  A strange but super cute animal with the long nose, fluffy boots and huge tail.  He was pretty special.  Then of course there's the penguins. 

Anyone who knows me from my childhood knows how obssessed with penguins I was as a kid.  Wrote to Jim'll fix it a number of times to try and meet the penguins (that goodness that never happened) but my wonderful mum made it happen so I could feed them at Harewood House which was probably the single best day of my childhood.  They still bring that joy to me and we probably spent half an hour at their enclosure with me just laughing me head off the entire time.  These rockhoppers gave us a good show, jumping out of the water, strutting around ,having a preen then going back in.  There were also a ton of gentoos who were moulting and looking super scruffy, super misreable and super cute.  The way they waddle with their heads forward makes them seem so  dejected.  Also got stared out by a tiny chick who was grumpy about the keeper leaving and there not beng any more food.  Good times.

Finished off the afternoon with a wander into Corstophine and have a fanastic, very reasonably priced lunch at Cafe Vigo which I'd highly recommend if you're ever in the area.