Day 3
Well, it is midnight on day three and we are getting ready to head home tomorrow. Today has been another fun day and we scored with the weather as the heavy rain fell during the night and we got round the zoo dry!
We arrived at the zoo just before 10am and we had to plan with our groups what we wanted to try and see – but this was difficult in just under two hours. My group and Mrs. Mitchell’s group decided to take the ‘Zoo Safari’ to the top of the hill so we could work our way down to the entrance instead of climbing the hill as we went. As it was early, had been wet and still ‘chilly’ a lot of the animals had obviously decided to have a long lie and were in their shelters! We packed in as many of the sights as we could – zebras, polar bears, jaguars, leopards, pigmy hippos, monkeys, flamingos, penguins and eagles to name but nine! We were lucky enough to be able to visit the new state of the art facility for chimpanzees which was officially opened today – the second official opening according to one of the staff. It is a modern and well designed centre – but a little disappointing as they did not seem fully up and running and seemed a little low on chimpanzees. However, our pupils were running and jumping about looking at the animals!
And of course the most popular part of the trip – the shop! They did a roaring trade and we seem to have acquired a whole ‘ark’ of stuffed toys to transport north tomorrow.
We left the zoo at around midday and headed back into the city to go to Dynamic Earth. We were booked in for our lunch there and it was nice to get 20 minutes to sit there and have a nice cup of coffee from the café!
We split into two groups and visited the classroom areas where we had a presentation on the ‘Rainforest’. This was very interesting and the children listened well and answered the questions well. We were shown some examples of the wildlife – spiders, millipedes, stick insects and leaches but thankfully they were all dead and in display boxes!
We then went on to the tour where we travelled back 3 billion years to the time when the Earth was ‘created’. We went through different sections that showed us about the Earth and the solar system, volcanoes, the Polar Regions and the rainforest. One of the most popular exhibits was the huge ice piece of ice that was in the Polar section. The children spent some time just placing their hands on the ice trying to see if they could leave a mark on it. The visit was rounded off with a session in the ‘dome area’ where we went on a trip round the galaxy to bring us back to the present day.
This led us to the obligatory shop where again a wide range of items were snapped up despite the dwindling resources. I think a few are now penniless for the last day but they should easily survive!
After tea we were back on the bus once more to the Esplanade where we were to meet our tour guides for the Ghost Walk. Once again we split into two groups and were taken round a variety of spots up and down the Royal Mile by our dressed up hosts to be told about some of the more gory historical stories from Edinburgh’s past. Witches, executions and regular visits from the guides ‘sidekick’ dressed as a different character every time made this a real fun and entertaining 90 minutes that both pupils and staff really enjoyed.
We met the bus once again and returned to the hotel just in time for the extra time of the Rangers match. However, I was dispatched to the chip shop with Miss Ingram to collect 53 bags of chips as a last treat! The poor customer behind us just looking for a fish supper did not seem quite so happy as we waited and waited for the 53 trays to be filled! We took them back in two journeys so they did not go cold and by the time we had got them all the extra time was over. Well, at least I saw the penalty shoot out!
All is quiet now and tomorrow morning will be another job to wake them up as they are well and truly tired out.
Again we have included some comments from some of the children. We did not manage to get everyone and apologies for any that did not feature.
We hope that all goes well tomorrow at the Parliament and our journey home.
Today I enjoyed the Zoo because some of the animals were really interesting. Cameron.
i enjoyed the monkeys doing tricks. Dean
Today I enjoyed the zoo because it was good to see all the animals. Lindsay.
Today I enjoyed the zoo because I've never been before. Gemma
Today i enjoyed going to the zoo because i saw lots of cool animals. Hanna
Today i enjoyed the zoo because i saw HIPPOS. Vigo
Today i enjoyed playing tag outside Dynamic Earth. Scott
Today i enjoyed the time machine at Dynamic Earth. Max
Today i enjoyed looking at the animals at the zoo. Jack Daniel
I enjoyed the zoo because it was fun and interesting. Rory
I enjoyed the zoo because I liked all the animals. Andrew
I liked the zoo because the animals were cute. Emily
The zoo was good fun because it did not rain and we got to see lots of animals. Hazel
Dynamic earth was good because we travelled in time to the future. Natasha.
I liked the huge iceberg at Dynamic earth because it was fun to make handprints in it. Catherine
The tiger at the zoo were really cute and I bought a cuddly one. Antonia
I enjoyed sticking my hand on the iceberg at Dynamic Earth and my hand went numb. Kerri
I liked the monkeys at the zoo because they were funny. Cara
I liked the penguins swimming under the water because they glided through the water really fast. Sarah
I liked the monkeys at the zoo because they gave me 'high fives'. Nikole
The seals at the zoo were great because they did twirls through the water. Katie
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