zoo + dickens fair
I officially have nothing to do until Wednesday morning. 0.o (Well, almost. I have a rendez-vous, dishes, and the blockade)
So this weekend, I continued this odd stint of spending more money that I have in college before. On Friday, I went to the Zoo with tiramisudolce, and then on Saturday I went to the Dickens Fair with Knight and Shy.
I'm fond of this zoo now!It's very spacious, and even with kids running around, there's plenty of path space to move around them. The place is also decked out with Christmas lights everywhere, and there are ... I don't know what you call them; shapes made out of Christmas lights in the shapes of the animals. I'm sure it's all quite cute come nightfall. (I think it's for ZooLights?) There are also multiple places from which to view the same enclosure.
I really enjoyed the Malaysian Sun Bears. Their enclosure is huge! It's the biggest in all the zoo and they were three of them totally napping right next to the viewing area. TOO CUTE. The otters were also quite cute, and surprisingly so were the bats! The bats were still sleeping though. In fact, most of the animals were sleeping, haha! I didn't realize camels were so big, or giraffes so short.
The lions were really hard to see, the tiger was sleeping, and we couldn't see the hyenas at all. The Australia Train Ride was disappointingly short. Although there was a hawk just chilling on a sign post, and that was super exciting. (One of my childhood loves was peregrine falcons, and I briefly considered going into falconry) The train ride cost an additional $3, and I think that would've been better spent on the sky ride, which is 20 minutes long and you get to see elk and bison. I imagine the sky lift would be very scenic and beautiful; the zoo is up in the hills and just taking the bus up there (and at certain parts of the train ride) you could look down and see the city.
The pizza slice I got in the children's ride area was shockingly good. Like, so good I'm still daydreaming about its thick, soft, but crunchy on the outside crust, the crisp pepperoni, the lack of copious grease, the perfect blend of cheese...
Although the most excited I got was seeing the fossil replica of the giant crocodile... Haha, it seems my childhood love of dinosaurs hasn't diminished. I ought to look and see if there are any dinosaur exhibits nearby...
After waiting an hour for the bus, I got to show Fox my college and dorm room! I even got her to watch the first 3 episodes of Utena and Sweet Dreams, except I was so tired I slept through the last 2. >.> Oh, for anyone interested in Utena, Nozomi is streaming them on Youtube. I'm not sure how many more episodes they'll load, but they're currently have all of the Student Council Arc up.
As for the Dickens Fair, we wound up staying all day and it was super, super fun!
We got there before it opened, so we had time to buy our tickets (student discount, ftw!) and wait in line. The ticket buying line was non-existent, the will call line very long (the booth hadn't opened yet), and the waiting line also long but it moved quickly once doors opened.
The Fair is pretty much the Cow Palace turned into Victorian London during Christmas. There are tons of people dressed up. Surprisingly, it's mostly men. It's a pretty white even though; there weren't many people of color walking around or dressed up. There were a few blacks and Asians dressed up (holy smokes, the one girl who was dressed in a... kimono I think was totally gorgeous in it). There were a few steampunk-y people there too.
Everyone's in character, speaking with accents and acting their parts whether it be promoting suffrage or a gentleman. Everyone is very friendly; we repeatedly got wished "Happy Christmas" and got a few "excuse me, miss" as people went by. The one thing I regret is that I was too shy to interact with everyone. I don't know much about Victorian England, but they really created a spectacular sense of place and atmosphere. And smell; the Main Causeway always smelled like freshly baked Snickerdoodles. Oh, and the programs are done as a Victorian newspaper!
I wound up buying a string of medium sized bells, a truffle, fudge, and a box of truffles for my mom. adjf;alskfjd;asljkf; That chocolatier booth was to die for. I bit into the truffle and the texture alone was divine. I was making all sorts of happy faces as I ate it. And the fudge, I split with Knight, was great. Decadent, rich (just like the truffle), with a slight caramel undertone. Shopping wise, there's really something for everyone. From corsets (Dark Garden's models were so good at being still, I really thought they were mannequins!), to custom jewelry, to replica pistols, they've got it! Also, calling each shop a "booth" is a severe understatement. Each shop actually looks like a small building/shop; complete with rugs, drapings, and windows. I also bought lunch at the roast beef place; pretty decent sandwich, but they repeatedly fudged up my order. :/
There are also buildings that have no purpose. You just go in and be hella Victorian. It's pretty intimidating and awesome ( I was too shy to go in). There's an adventurer's section which was pretty cool (perhaps slightly Orientalist though), and an old-fashioned carousel.
Anyways, let me tell you about all the shows we went to. (The shows alone made the $21 entrance fee worth it)
Crummles Theatrical company presents "The Villains' Revenge" - Shy insisted we sit in the front row. Anyway, the leading men were cute, the hero kinda looked like Jesse from Glee. I feel once more, I got karmic revenge for discreetly checking out the villain's son, because I was the lucky audience member the villain poked fun of (I bit my thumb in retaliation, and was too embarassed to look at the villain's son next to him, haha) and leaned on for a bit. XD As I ~gently embraced him~ Shy whips out her camera and says "this is why I wanted to sit in the front row! :D" and proceeds to take photos. The play was fun, and they got the crowd involved. But yes, everythings very interactive at the Fair! :) (It also made my Dramione-y shipper heart proud. XDDD)
Broadside Music Hall Revue (featuring Le Can Can Bijou) - not what we were expecting so we left early. Only a little bit of can-can-ing. :( But we did see the end of Pipe and Bowl Morris Dancing's set, and they were quite good!
Royal English Opera Gala - a sampler of opera music. They were good! I recognized a few songs, but I only could name Habanera from Carmen. Pleasantly surprised to see a Philipino dude opera-ing away. Quite comical at times too, with the woman seeing Habanera bringing one of the men to their knees, and another almost to their knees. XD They also put on feather boas around their faces to be chickens at one point. :)
Paddy West Nautical Music and Songs - so we only caught a snippet, but just wanted to say one of the guys there was hot. In a kinda Garret Maggart from The Sentinel kind of way, and I saw him playing clarinet earlier and I was all ":DDDDDDDDDDD CLARINET! <3" which made me think the guy was even hotter. /shallow
Giant Squid Feeding - oh gosh, the sadness here. They asked for short people/children to go up to the front. I refrained since I'm not a kid anymore, but then I couldn't see past all the tall parents. So the Victorian lady was all "Go up front!" Which I did. And then got strange looks from the girl sitting next to me, and I felt quite awkward. And I tried to sit on my knees, but I was obviously kneeling the wrong way because I lasted about 5 minutes before having to stretch my legs out. Errrr, anyways, very kid friendly event. Also involved some French dude (with a very not-French accent) and Cpt. Nemo from 20k Leagues Under the Sea. Nemo wasn't white, either (IDK, is that the same in the book? Haven't read it) to my pleasant surprise.
Siamsa Scottish and Irish Dance Show - I spat rainbows out at this one. Live band, fiddler was awesome. They covered everything from traditional Irish dance to its American contemporary. It wasn't quite clogging as (If I heard the shoe correctly) the shoes one girl used just had normal taps on them, no clogging or buck taps. The boy who demonstrated American-style wore Irish hard toe shoes I think (I had a very brief stint in Irish dance), but the rhythms he used? Entirely familiar to clogging and buck. That was one of the most fascinating things I felt, the way the rhythms used are different between Irish and American/clogging. As always, I admire the fast footwork and the intricacy it takes. Yeah, favorite thing I saw, because I have never seen an Irish dancing or clogging show before and aaaaaaaaaaah be still my heart.
Saucy French Postcards Tableaux Revue - the 18 and over event because of boobs! YEAH. Best tableaux involved the captain on all fours with the lady on top with riding crop. Sadly, this was not the pirate scene, which was quite disappointing. And you get to see Villain's Son from that play here almost-naked. Ladies are topless, the dudes have their legs carefully placed to prevent anything showing (but I suspect they're really wearing somthing). Also, random man at the end was all "BEHOLD" and was buff and wearing a loincloth. There's some exotification, human sacrifice (really? I thought we learned from Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom), and colonialism. Like the whole time, the narrator slyly questions colonialism and the whole "white man's burden" but at the end he's all "YAY COLONIALISM" and I was all ":/" and didn't applaud those bits. Some great puns too ("I've always found seamen distasteful" the wife said; husband side-eyes audience).
All in all would totally go again. And would dress if I had the sewing skills.
So this weekend, I continued this odd stint of spending more money that I have in college before. On Friday, I went to the Zoo with tiramisudolce, and then on Saturday I went to the Dickens Fair with Knight and Shy.
I'm fond of this zoo now!It's very spacious, and even with kids running around, there's plenty of path space to move around them. The place is also decked out with Christmas lights everywhere, and there are ... I don't know what you call them; shapes made out of Christmas lights in the shapes of the animals. I'm sure it's all quite cute come nightfall. (I think it's for ZooLights?) There are also multiple places from which to view the same enclosure.
I really enjoyed the Malaysian Sun Bears. Their enclosure is huge! It's the biggest in all the zoo and they were three of them totally napping right next to the viewing area. TOO CUTE. The otters were also quite cute, and surprisingly so were the bats! The bats were still sleeping though. In fact, most of the animals were sleeping, haha! I didn't realize camels were so big, or giraffes so short.
The lions were really hard to see, the tiger was sleeping, and we couldn't see the hyenas at all. The Australia Train Ride was disappointingly short. Although there was a hawk just chilling on a sign post, and that was super exciting. (One of my childhood loves was peregrine falcons, and I briefly considered going into falconry) The train ride cost an additional $3, and I think that would've been better spent on the sky ride, which is 20 minutes long and you get to see elk and bison. I imagine the sky lift would be very scenic and beautiful; the zoo is up in the hills and just taking the bus up there (and at certain parts of the train ride) you could look down and see the city.
The pizza slice I got in the children's ride area was shockingly good. Like, so good I'm still daydreaming about its thick, soft, but crunchy on the outside crust, the crisp pepperoni, the lack of copious grease, the perfect blend of cheese...
Although the most excited I got was seeing the fossil replica of the giant crocodile... Haha, it seems my childhood love of dinosaurs hasn't diminished. I ought to look and see if there are any dinosaur exhibits nearby...
After waiting an hour for the bus, I got to show Fox my college and dorm room! I even got her to watch the first 3 episodes of Utena and Sweet Dreams, except I was so tired I slept through the last 2. >.> Oh, for anyone interested in Utena, Nozomi is streaming them on Youtube. I'm not sure how many more episodes they'll load, but they're currently have all of the Student Council Arc up.
As for the Dickens Fair, we wound up staying all day and it was super, super fun!
We got there before it opened, so we had time to buy our tickets (student discount, ftw!) and wait in line. The ticket buying line was non-existent, the will call line very long (the booth hadn't opened yet), and the waiting line also long but it moved quickly once doors opened.
The Fair is pretty much the Cow Palace turned into Victorian London during Christmas. There are tons of people dressed up. Surprisingly, it's mostly men. It's a pretty white even though; there weren't many people of color walking around or dressed up. There were a few blacks and Asians dressed up (holy smokes, the one girl who was dressed in a... kimono I think was totally gorgeous in it). There were a few steampunk-y people there too.
Everyone's in character, speaking with accents and acting their parts whether it be promoting suffrage or a gentleman. Everyone is very friendly; we repeatedly got wished "Happy Christmas" and got a few "excuse me, miss" as people went by. The one thing I regret is that I was too shy to interact with everyone. I don't know much about Victorian England, but they really created a spectacular sense of place and atmosphere. And smell; the Main Causeway always smelled like freshly baked Snickerdoodles. Oh, and the programs are done as a Victorian newspaper!
I wound up buying a string of medium sized bells, a truffle, fudge, and a box of truffles for my mom. adjf;alskfjd;asljkf; That chocolatier booth was to die for. I bit into the truffle and the texture alone was divine. I was making all sorts of happy faces as I ate it. And the fudge, I split with Knight, was great. Decadent, rich (just like the truffle), with a slight caramel undertone. Shopping wise, there's really something for everyone. From corsets (Dark Garden's models were so good at being still, I really thought they were mannequins!), to custom jewelry, to replica pistols, they've got it! Also, calling each shop a "booth" is a severe understatement. Each shop actually looks like a small building/shop; complete with rugs, drapings, and windows. I also bought lunch at the roast beef place; pretty decent sandwich, but they repeatedly fudged up my order. :/
There are also buildings that have no purpose. You just go in and be hella Victorian. It's pretty intimidating and awesome ( I was too shy to go in). There's an adventurer's section which was pretty cool (perhaps slightly Orientalist though), and an old-fashioned carousel.
Anyways, let me tell you about all the shows we went to. (The shows alone made the $21 entrance fee worth it)
Crummles Theatrical company presents "The Villains' Revenge" - Shy insisted we sit in the front row. Anyway, the leading men were cute, the hero kinda looked like Jesse from Glee. I feel once more, I got karmic revenge for discreetly checking out the villain's son, because I was the lucky audience member the villain poked fun of (I bit my thumb in retaliation, and was too embarassed to look at the villain's son next to him, haha) and leaned on for a bit. XD As I ~gently embraced him~ Shy whips out her camera and says "this is why I wanted to sit in the front row! :D" and proceeds to take photos. The play was fun, and they got the crowd involved. But yes, everythings very interactive at the Fair! :) (It also made my Dramione-y shipper heart proud. XDDD)
Broadside Music Hall Revue (featuring Le Can Can Bijou) - not what we were expecting so we left early. Only a little bit of can-can-ing. :( But we did see the end of Pipe and Bowl Morris Dancing's set, and they were quite good!
Royal English Opera Gala - a sampler of opera music. They were good! I recognized a few songs, but I only could name Habanera from Carmen. Pleasantly surprised to see a Philipino dude opera-ing away. Quite comical at times too, with the woman seeing Habanera bringing one of the men to their knees, and another almost to their knees. XD They also put on feather boas around their faces to be chickens at one point. :)
Paddy West Nautical Music and Songs - so we only caught a snippet, but just wanted to say one of the guys there was hot. In a kinda Garret Maggart from The Sentinel kind of way, and I saw him playing clarinet earlier and I was all ":DDDDDDDDDDD CLARINET! <3" which made me think the guy was even hotter. /shallow
Giant Squid Feeding - oh gosh, the sadness here. They asked for short people/children to go up to the front. I refrained since I'm not a kid anymore, but then I couldn't see past all the tall parents. So the Victorian lady was all "Go up front!" Which I did. And then got strange looks from the girl sitting next to me, and I felt quite awkward. And I tried to sit on my knees, but I was obviously kneeling the wrong way because I lasted about 5 minutes before having to stretch my legs out. Errrr, anyways, very kid friendly event. Also involved some French dude (with a very not-French accent) and Cpt. Nemo from 20k Leagues Under the Sea. Nemo wasn't white, either (IDK, is that the same in the book? Haven't read it) to my pleasant surprise.
Siamsa Scottish and Irish Dance Show - I spat rainbows out at this one. Live band, fiddler was awesome. They covered everything from traditional Irish dance to its American contemporary. It wasn't quite clogging as (If I heard the shoe correctly) the shoes one girl used just had normal taps on them, no clogging or buck taps. The boy who demonstrated American-style wore Irish hard toe shoes I think (I had a very brief stint in Irish dance), but the rhythms he used? Entirely familiar to clogging and buck. That was one of the most fascinating things I felt, the way the rhythms used are different between Irish and American/clogging. As always, I admire the fast footwork and the intricacy it takes. Yeah, favorite thing I saw, because I have never seen an Irish dancing or clogging show before and aaaaaaaaaaah be still my heart.
Saucy French Postcards Tableaux Revue - the 18 and over event because of boobs! YEAH. Best tableaux involved the captain on all fours with the lady on top with riding crop. Sadly, this was not the pirate scene, which was quite disappointing. And you get to see Villain's Son from that play here almost-naked. Ladies are topless, the dudes have their legs carefully placed to prevent anything showing (but I suspect they're really wearing somthing). Also, random man at the end was all "BEHOLD" and was buff and wearing a loincloth. There's some exotification, human sacrifice (really? I thought we learned from Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom), and colonialism. Like the whole time, the narrator slyly questions colonialism and the whole "white man's burden" but at the end he's all "YAY COLONIALISM" and I was all ":/" and didn't applaud those bits. Some great puns too ("I've always found seamen distasteful" the wife said; husband side-eyes audience).
All in all would totally go again. And would dress if I had the sewing skills.