Today we spent most of the day in Bronx zoo. I discovered I loved Okapi very much. Giraffes are startling large. Aardvarks are very cute when digging. Spider monkeys are crazy. Gorillas are very chill, while Baboons act as if a fight will break out any minute. Tigers can be quite unimpressive. Andean condors are also startling large. Lemurs all look like they are all on drugs. Tamarins are inordinately cute, as are Pygmy Marmosets and Mongooses (who would be even cuter if we called them mongeese). African wild dogs are much less ugly than you have been led to believe. Lungfish are creepy.
I had chirashizushi, for the first time, at dinner.
Startling enough, my feet were less sore than before. I knew eventually all this walking would get me into to better shape, I just hadn't expected it to occur fast enough for me to benefit while on this trip.
We did laundry tonight. I prefer the laundromat here to the set up we have in our building.
I had a very enjoyable and relaxing holiday in Montréal.
On Friday we just walked up to the plateau and wandered around marveling at houses which were pretty colours and people in interesting clothes. And staircases. Wow. Lots and lots of nifty twisty staircases everywhere. I'd read about these staircases; but it is another to see them in their full nifty glory.
Saturday we wandered around old Montreal, and then over to Île Sainte-Hélène to see the biosphere, and then north to the Biodome. Except it was packed; because it Saturday afternoon. So we went directly to the botanical gardens, which were free because nothing was really blooming yet. There were, however, adorable adolescent foxes. Many pictures and even some video clips were taken, all of cute overload levels of cute.
On Sunday we visited le Musée des beaux-arts in the morning. After my day with the ducks, modern art has suddenly jumped into focus. Suddenly, I 'get' what they are trying (and now and then accomplishing) to do. After that we climbed Mont Royal. I got told off by a cop for standing to close to the fence around the cross (apparently alarms go off if you do). We then climbed down Mont royal and observed the Tam-tams for awhile.
By Monday, we were very vacationed out. All we did during the day was to go to the now deserted Biodome and observe the happy penguins. We were there for feeding time. Penguins are very noisy. In the evening we met up with sfllaw, who took us first to a most enjoyable bar, where tasty cocktails were consumed, and then on to a place with what was the best poutine I have ever had.
And on Tuesday we went home, and I spent over 3 hours straight online catching up on all the things I had missed.
On the train ride home I read the Gnostic Gospels and found it fascinating. I used to be able to read in a moving car, until I was about 11 and it started to make me feel sick. Buses were still fine until shortly after I started university. Trains are still okay; but I do not know for how long.
So, on Tuesday I get an e-mail from Maple asking if I am still available and if I would like a job. I e-mailed back to say yes, and went to an interview today, which went really well. So, I think I may have a job. I am trying hard not to jinx it.
Yeah.
Tuesday night while walking home, I almost stepped on a skunk. The little striped fellow came out of the bushes right in front of me. For a tense moment we regarded each other in surprise and fear. Then I backed away slowly. The skunk stared at me in fear. I backed away a little quicker.
Eventually, when I was about five feet away, he moved back into the bushes. I crossed the street, and our paths crossed no more.
happy
relaxed