The Tower of London and a Day as a London Tourist!

Yesterday I embarked on a little journey to London to visit my lovely sister along with the parentals. Our first point of call was the Tower of London. I'd never actually been there before in all my London outings! It was brilliant, a little pricey, but that is to be expected in the city and it was well worth it: there was so much to see!

Traitors Gate

Lion Gargoyle

Off to see the crown jewels! There was so much sparkle! But alas, photography was not allowed in the vaults... It was rather busy so we had to view the really sparkly pieces on a travelator to keep the crowds moving.

The ravens were so used to the tourists that they all posed for the many cameras...

The changing of the guard...

We made a pit stop at The Dickens Inn...

... then the weather made a turn for the worst! We hopped on a Thames Clipper to travel down the river towards Greenwich and the Maritime Museum.

Me and Jenny outside the Tower of London. I think Jenny may have coordinated her dress to match the medieval tent in the background ;)

The Royal Armouries Leeds - A Great Free Museum To Visit

It's half term and I've got visitors for a few days. Danny's family are up in Leeds until Tuesday so we've planned in some touristy fun. Yesterday we went shopping in Leeds City Centre (in the snow!) and today we've been to the Royal Armouries at Clarence Dock. I think tomorrow will include a visit to Tropical World (which will no doubt result in another blog post!).

The Armouries are a great museum to visit, not only because it is free, but because it's great fun, loads to see (we spent over 2hrs there) and there are always events on, especially during half terms. On our visit there were various Chinese New Year themed events including a Chinese New Year animal petting zoo (a somewhat tedious link methinks) and Lion dancing, which we managed to see a bit of.

The Royal Armouries most famous piece: the Henry VIII horned helmet

Helmet, complete with nose and moustache :)

Elephant armour in the Oriental gallery

Chinese New Year Lion Dancing

Tropical World in Leeds - Butterflies, Birds and Bearded Dragons!

If you ever find yourself in Leeds needing something to do, I recommend visiting Tropical World just on the outskirts of the city in Roundhay. It is right at the edge of Roundhay park which is absolutely beautiful and well worth a visit in itself! It is the best value for money attraction in Leeds (apart from the free museums and galleries of course!) at only £3.25 for an adult ticket and me and my friend Joanne (who I was showing the sights of Leeds for the day) spent over and hour in the butterfly house and miniature zoo. Here are some of my favourite photos from my visit...

The Butterfly section was absolutely boiling (Hence the "tropical" bit of Tropical world I guess!) but had some beautiful species of butterfly and moth fluttering around our heads. I managed to get a few photos of them as they settled on the flowers and hand rails.

This gorgeous little one's wings have seen better days...

Meerkat watch tower - this little fella had the duty of keeping a lookout while everyone else snoozed... someone got a bit of a bum deal!

All of the birds (like the butterflies) flew freely around the exhibits and as they were obviously very used to having humans around them they posed happily for my photos not in the least bit frightened.

A very sleepy and lazy iguana.

A very cute tree shrew.

Can you spot the stick insect? :)

London Aquarium - my best bits

After Easter I spent two weeks at London Aquarium on placement, completing some research for my university course. I had a wonderful time there, and everyone made me feel really welcome and I got a lot out of the experience. I initially visited the aquarium a few years ago, and it has changed a lot since then, and for the better! They have given the whole aquarium a refit and it has made the world of a difference to the place. It is a brilliant place to visit - if you like fish of course... I am not a good photographer by any means, and my camera is average, but over the two weeks that I was at the aquarium I was able to take some photos in my spare time. I thought I would share those photos with you all...

The aquarium at County Hall right next to the London Eye

A friendly little fella from the rock pool

some more little critters from the rock pool, starfish and beadlet anemones

One of my favourite fish in the aquarium, Ed, the giraffe-nose catfish. I was lucky enough to give him a stroke, he was very friendly.

Mister Seahorse

Georgina, the biggest fish in the aquarium. She was a whopping 3ms and the big boss lady of the Pacific tank!

What I love about horseshoe crabs is that they are so very odd looking, like little prehistoric alien-like creatures, they love scuttling around attached to each other.

The female African Dwarf Crocodile - very cute

one of the lion fish in the tropical tank section

Castles and Caves

Well, it's that time again... the Easter holidays. Time for me to break from uni and earn myself some money to supplement my student loan. I work in Smugglers Adventure Caves and Hastings Castle. My first day at the Castle, it was a beautiful day, the sky was blue and I took these photos of the Castle and the views.

The remains of the church

The Eastern view from the castle.

The church archway

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the original castle grounds have been lost to the sea. Over two thirds of the grounds, including the castle keep, slipped into the sea when the cliffs receded in the 1800's... which just goes to show how much our coast is ever-changing. The church, East gate and dungeons are still standing, and on a sunny and clear day the views from the castle are lovely. I'm looking forward to working in the castle again, and spending some of my summer days working in the sunshine!