Fishy Business

I'd like to introduce you to the residents of Tynemouth Blue Reef Aquarium. We start with fairly standard aquarium stock. Piranhas. Fairly innocent looking fish that have a voracious appetite for meat. Starfish, with cute little tube feet that they use to source food, by smelling it!

  

Flounder, which look a little different from the familiar Disney fish, but put on a good show for us against the side of the glass, and beautiful candy floss pink anemones that will give you a nasty sting as soon as you touch them - so remember, anemones are enemies. Can you say that three times quickly? Anemones are enemies, anemones are enemies, anemones are enemies...

Check out that pout!

We found nemo!

 
Anemones may be enemies, but Ben made a friend in this pufferfish, who had such a lovely little face, as did the ray, and the axolotl. I've always wanted an axolotl as a pet, they're adorable, low maintenance and forever young! However, I'm trying to wait until I have a more permanent home before I make a commitment with any kind of pet. Other than goldfish. I can commit to goldfish.

With the terrapins, seals, sealions and otters the aquarium is branching out a bit, but they are water based. 

The same cannot be said for degus, monkeys and chickens! There wasn't any sort of explanation on display, but my old flatmate used to work here, and she said they quite often found animals just abandoned outside the aquarium, and the aquarium just does the best it can to look after them. This made me feel quite warm towards the aquarium, they clearly care about their animals and do the very best for them. I was also really impressed with the information available, it was a high standard (as a zoologist I found it interesting) but completely accessible for children and adults alike. Full marks, Tynemouth Blue Reef Aquarium, and thank you for a lovely day!

I Capture the Castle

One of the wonderful things about living where I do is the abundance of beautiful castles right on the doorstep. This is one of my favourites, Crathes Castle. It's a 16th century castle and inside has unique  Jacobean rooms, with painted ceilings and their very own ghosts...

There's no cameras allowed inside, except to take photos of the spectacular views, but outside is a different story. The castle has 530 acres of grounds, and the absolute best bit of all is the walled garden, which itself is nearly 4 acres! I've visited a few times, most recently Ben and I went with my parents when they were up here on holiday. I think the Autumn colours may see the gardens at their most beautiful of all.

There's a brilliant story about the hedge you can see in the background of this picture. In the 80s, a gardener was giving it a trim, and found a wine bottle in the hedge. A 200+ years old wine bottle! They think it had been dumped in the hedge during a particularly alcohol fuelled party. I think this creates a wonderful link between the past and the present, it makes the past a bit more real don't you think?

There's a little information board about the Lady that designed the gardens, which I wish I'd taken a photo of. She was lovely, her picture is beautiful, and the gardens were a wonderful gift to leave for future generations.

This is my favourite place to visit near where I live - where's yours?

Goodbye Nice

As our last day dawned, we knew we didn't want to do anything new, just wander and enjoy the last rays of sunshine and the last of the peace being away from everything brought us. Throughout the holiday I realised Nice is a place with many sharp contrasts, but somehow it all fits together beautifully. There's cheap and cheerful shops and restaurants (we ended up in Quick Burger when we arrived desperate for food and super late on the first night. Just so you know, it was one of the worst things I've ever eaten).

There's high end fashion boutiques and five star restaurants.

And shops that, well, quite frankly, are indescribable. Never have I seen a more eclectic collection.

There's beautiful palm trees, pebbly beaches, museums and galleries and fantastic (seriously) ice cream.

There's something interesting to look at wherever you turn. I still don't know what these ribbons were about.

Eventually, it was time to head back to our apartment to pack the bags, and just in time too, because, for the first time all holiday, the heavens opened to an enormous storm. It made it slightly easier to come home. Very slightly. Usually, I love a holiday, but I'm ready to go home at the end. But this time, I could have happily stayed for another week at least.

I'll leave you with my favourite two pictures from the holiday - both taken on my phone! It goes to show it's the moment that makes the photograph, not the camera. Now I've finally wrapped up my summer posts, you can look forward to being introduced to some recipes, and finding out what a day in the life of a fourth year honours student is like...