8/7/2016 zoo

We spent the night at a Days Inn in Gretna Green and had Starbucks for breakfast.  (Realized that today is Sunday, so keeping with my normal life.)

We got an early start because we wanted to get to the Chester Zoo when it opened.  This is the highlight of Calder's trip.  It is the number 6 zoo in the world.

One of the reasons is that their elephants are all related, so make up a true family group.

The exhibits are fabulously done.  They recently added islands that you go around in a boat and then can walk around more. There were many baby animals as one of the criteria for a world class zoo is a good breeding program.

For all that, these were the most popular with the toddler group.

Jef wasn't feeling well, so spent most of the day in the main dining area.  Branwen was really enjoying herself until she got peed on in the bat exhibit.  We convinced her to go to see her favorite animal  ( aye-aye) with me, but she was resistant.

After Calder and Alec had seen every animal we headed off to Wales.  This is the Branwen part of the  trip.

On our way into Wales we stopped at the town with the longest name.

From the Days Inn to a castle.  What a difference!

Tre-Ysgawen had an inside swimming pool so the kids could swim before we left in the morning.

Staircase

Portrait of the owner's dead daughter.  There were about twenty five of these in different colors, but with the same face done from a photo.  The overall effect was a little creepy.

Jef having cocktails before dinner.  We drank, had nibbles, and chose our dinners here.  Then after awhile we were ushered to our table.

Sweet potato and fennel soup, seared salmon, white fish carpaccio for starters.

Fried squid on avocado on salmon, lamb, beef for mains.

A nice bowl of veggies.

Peach and raspberry trifle, except we didn't really find the peaches.

Sticky toffee pudding.

It is pleasant to just go upstairs to bed after dinner.  Alec went back to the bar to have a wee dram and some alone time.

Stewart was the bell captain.  When he heard Branwen's name, he was quite excited.  He remembered hearing the legend of Princess Branwen when he was in school.  He printed it out so she could see it.  It turned out that he also liked Calder's favorite computer game. (Zoo Tycoon). He was a big hit with all of us.