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Whenever, I visit the zoo, I seem to come away with a favorite animal for the day and this day it was this very large Silverback Gorilla. He/She (?) was a real character. In the below picture, you can see that the gorilla sat right in front of the glass peering out at all the people like we were the ones on television. I couldn't get close as the people were taking turns posing. He looked over at me down the way a bit and got up and walked over and posed right in front of me in this "what are they thinking" pose. I fell in love with this gorilla!!
The gorilla is definitely posing here and was too funny!
This is an Ebony Langur and they were very active.
This is a Wolf's Monkey from Africa. The last time at the Zoo, I didn't see any of the apes. We did get to almost every exhibit this time although we were both very tired by the end of the day.
This was another of my absolute favorites this time -- a Tree Kangaroo!
When Debi and I went in June, we somehow missed the lions!!
There were quite a few outdoor exhibits of various birds -- there were actually two different ponds with flamingoes. These were the darker pink ones.
This is a Hornbill and you can see why!
The exhibits with the aquatic birds were fantastic and there was nothing between you and the birds who were only feet away from you. This is a lovely Scarlet Ibis for my sister Gail!
This is a Guam Kingfisher posing.
Like the song, this is the Laughing Kookaburra from Down Under!
These are Inca Terns.
This was an incredibly colorful bird called a Monal. The feathers are really a grey color but are highly reflective giving all these variations in color - beautiful!
As before, there were peacocks everywhere but thought I would publish this closeup of the face of the more colorful male. They weren't strutting like they were in June, showing all their feathers.
Of course I took lots of other pictures but many were repeats of what I took in June although polar bear and the tigers weren't as much fun this visit as my last.
The Bronx Zoo is one of the nicest zoos I have seen -- right up there with the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park.
For our 40th wedding anniversary, our oldest daughter Lisa got us a getaway weekend at the Plaza Hotel in New York City complete with High Tea on Sunday afternoon. We arrived on Sunday and left on Tuesday. This is the entrance to the Plaza (just inside the front door). It is just elegant inside with gilded crystal chandeliers everywhere. You just wonder who keeps these all clean and sparkling like they do.
On the same theme, here is the chandelier in our living room. We also had one in the bedroom and both bathrooms. The lighting and temperature in each of the bedroom and living room were controlled by an Ipad in the living room!
Warren sitting on the phone with the aforementioned daughter telling her about the suite! We were on the highest floor of the Plaza (except for the Penthouse) in an Edwardian suite with living room, bedroom and one and one half baths!!
Here is the desk where I did my computer work!
I am standing in front of picture of Eloise who in children's literature lived at the Plaza. When we were sitting in the Palm Court having tea, we could watch the people going by and each time they would stop and take this same picture!!
This is the vantage point for our tea (you can see the Eloise picture in the upper left hand corner). I had the chocolate tea and Warren had the New York tea. It was far, far too much food for two people. Mine included a chocolate fondue with a plate of fruit and various other things for dipping. Then there were scones and my new favorite -- Devonshire clotted cream -- yum. Then there was a tray of samples of all sorts of chocolate goodies. On top of that, they brought us a special treat of these chocolate covered cakes with two flavors of mousse inside. They were awesome!!
Here you can see my three tiered tray. The scones are in the napkin on the mid-level! That bottom level had pretzels, strawberries, pineapple, bananas, sponge cake and marshmallows for dipping. I barely got through the fruit. (I did wrap up some of the top level treats in a paper napkin I had in my purse as I couldn't bare to leave them.)
This is the entrance to the Plaza which is located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 58th Street right across from Central Park.
Sunday night, we decided it would be best to walk around to walk off some of the tea goodies!! We also wanted to check out the area a bit but also wanted to enjoy the amenities in our nice suite at the hotel.
Luckily we had done some planning ahead of time -- you can find coupons on the net for much reduced parking prices which we dutifully printed out. We were surprised that it actually reduced the price by almost 40% ($30/day instead of $51). We also bought our tickets for the Bronx Zoo online and got a 20% reduction in price -- good deal as it paid for the parking at the zoo.
I just returned from a very short trip to one of my very favorite cities! My friend Debi had landed an audition for Who Wants to be a Millionaire and had to go to New York for testing and an interview on Tuesday. As her husband hates the city, she invited me to come down with her and I jumped at the chance as I haven't been down there in a couple of years.
We found a great hotel to stay in by the George Washington Bridge but on the the NJ side -- the Best Western in Ft. Lee. I mention this as it was cheap and excellent with a large but mostly Continental breakfast in the morning. Debi had rented a car so we used that to get in and out of the city which was easy.
We arrived in mid- afternoon on Monday and headed immediately into the city to see where the interview was the following day and to find parking nearby so we wouldn't have to guess on Tuesday. It was easy (but expensive). We parked the car and got subway tickets to head to Time Square (pictured) to find the Majestic Theatre where we were going to see Phantom of the Opera later. I had seen it in London but Debi hadn't seen the play before.
You can see the absolutely gorgeous weather we had as we head across the George Washington Bridge to the City. It was in the low 70s and breezy.
Debi decided she couldn't live with her phone any longer and went to store to buy a new one! I headed further uptown to the heart of Times Square. They have closed off part of the road so there is lots of space to walk from about 41st street up to 46th where the TKTS booth is (half price tickets for the shows). I checked this all out and there was a huge screen on one of the building which was projecting the crowd that was standing there. If you look just next to the bottle, there is a woman with a very flowered shirt (must be a tourist) taking a picture of the screen -- that's me!! What a hoot except for the bottle kept moving and covering me up!
After a lovely stop for some pizza for dinner, we headed to the theater. Here we are inside in our box seats waiting for the show to begin. Can't imagine why I am not smiling as I was having a very good time.
Before the performance began, there was a lot of picture taking so I took the opportunity to take a broad picture of the audience and stage. I was amazed that by the time the performance began, there was hardly an empty seat anywhere even on a Monday night. The performance, the staging and the costuming were superb!!! I was surprised how much better it was than the performance I saw in London!! The singing was wonderful with the lead Phantom being mesmerizing in both his singing and his acting!! Debi and I really enjoyed it. Back to the subway and our car parked at Lincoln Center and across the bridge to Jersey (all very easy).
We didn't have a whole day to do much on Tuesday as Debi had to be at the ABC Studios at 5:30 and needed to get ready. We had another beautiful day with temps in the 70s and decided to visit the Bronx Zoo. I hadn't been there in almost 50 years and Debi had never been there. Google and GPS said it was about 6 miles from our hotel. It would have taken less time if we hadn't gotten lost a bit in the Bronx but our GPS got us back on track in no time. We decided to take the monorail first to get a feel for the zoo. Their shuttle system is a little confusing but they were very obliging in giving us directions and recommending taking the monorail early in the day before the crowds. This is a view of the Bronx River which you pass over on the tram.
After the monorail which passes through their Asia exhibits, we headed to Tiger Mountain. I took these just for Priscilla of course. There were two tigers in the exhibit (there had been at least one additional tiger over in the Asia exhibit). Both the tigers woke up while we were watching and one did all sorts of cute kitty rolling on his back things! I think this first tiger thought I would make a tasty lunch.
The tropical rain forest exhibit was spectacular. This is a Painted Stork and there were several of these. The exhibits themselves are works of art as they are so naturalized, even inside. I would not have recognized it as the same zoo I saw in the 60s. There was vegetation giving the animals lots of space everywhere and the indoor exhibits just had all these wonderful backgrounds. I love the directions that zoos have gone in since the 60s. There were animals in the Asia exhibit that are extinct in the wild.
There were peacocks galore int he Asia exhibit but this one was in with the giraffes and the ostriches. Many of the peacocks were around strutting their brilliant tails (looking for a lady I suspect).
There were a lot of giraffes of all different sizes in the exhibit.
They have a camel ride but I just watched as I love the facial expressions on these large docile animals!! Unfortunately, we had to leave after only a few hours and head back to New Jersey. I definitely want to go again!!
The polar bear (being the New Yorker that he is) was entertaining us the whole time we watched!! This has to be the liveliest polar bear I have ever seen!! There was a large ball in the pool that he kept diving after and then he discovered this rope with these three balls. Well like a toddler, he was obsessed with having these three balls and the large brown ball and kept diving and trying to group them all together. I guess he thinks he has to earn his keep in this high priced real estate!!
Last, but certainly not least, Debi and I were taken out to dinner by my nephew John (John's website -- he's a well known numismatist ). After Debi left us for her test and interview, John and I sat and talked for a couple of hours at the tables on the road divide at Lincoln Center. I snapped this picture for my sister and right after John had been anointed by one of the local bird life. John is soon moving down the Charlotte area and I look forward to seeing more of him when I am in North Carolina!!
As Debi was called back for a second test and an interview, it was too late to go to another Broadway show and we had to get up early in the morning to get back anyway. It was perfect timing as the temps were forecast to be in the mid-90s the day we left and are supposed to reach 99 today!! So we are keeping our fingers crossed that she makes it into the contestant pool and is called so that we can make another NY trip!!
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