When we bought our tickets to the aquarium, for $3 each we could add a "4d" movie. We did.
I'm glad we didn't pay more than that.
It was a cartoon of ancient aquatic creatures, fleeing and/or eating each other. Lots of scary, lots of death. Apparently right in your face, "thanks" to the 3d effect.
!!!
My kid, when little, would have had nightmares for months. *I* had a nightmare that night.
Good grief.
I should probably write to them, and tell them it should be at least PG rated, for violence...... And people should be warned that it is scary and full of death.
Sheesh.
Ok, shaking that off............
Love the pattern of nubbles. This is a cast of the jaws of a bow mouth guitar fish, I believe.
Megalodon jaws, complete with extremely large teeth. I think these are reconstructions.
This person is 6'4". Those were some Really REALLY big jaws............
The 6' sharks in the tanks were bad enough -- I am very glad our oceans no longer contain these!
Moving on.
Pretty turtles! The greenish cast is from the lights/plexiglas. They were more monochrome than these images show.
I'd never seen white turtles with black spots before. Now I'm wondering if these are a genetic variation, like white tigers, rather than a species that is always white..... It doesn't seem like whiteness can be an evolutionarily advantageous color for a turtle.
It was dark in the aquarium. I understand that darkness makes it easier for spectators to look into the tanks, but it makes it damn' hard to read the explanatory info (when there is any.....).
A few blurry fishes.
This is one instance where the camera and I remember exactly the same colors. Love that purple trim with the YELLOW.
Lobster. There was a MONSTER lobster in this tank, but it was way back in under the "rocks." This large but not ridiculously-big one was easier to see.
There's a patio on the river side of the aquarium. You can sit out there and eat an ice cream bar........ It was reasonable cool (though very humid) that day. (Hallelujah.) It was pleasant to sit out there, aside from the smokers..............
I think I saw more people smoking, on this trip, than I've seen for years and years. Wake up, people. SMOKING = BAD. Stop it. And, totally for sure, STOP DOING IT IN PUBLIC PLACES!!!! And, finally, yes, cigarette butts ARE litter!
Sheesh.
Moving away, down the patio, farther from the smokers.
I'm pretty sure that church, upper left, is Christ Church.
This sailboat was cruising. In a few seconds it was much farther upstream. Here's the same Penn's Landing sign we've seen a couple times before, and also the Pennsylvania Dept. of Records building we've seen many times from the hotel window.
We kept an eye on the time, not wanting to miss the 4:30 ferry back to Philadelphia.
I checked out the post cards. They had a really cute one with a photo of one of the penguins. I thought I had exact change, but didn't take into account that I was counting out pennies for the Pennsylvania sales tax, not the New Jersey sales tax. Sales tax in Jersey is only 3%.
Walking back toward the ferry.
You can see the clusters of pilings that the boat must go through to reach the dock. It was that cluster on the far right that we ran into on the way over, I think.
On our way back to Philadelphia.
So weird, how things seem to be arranged, when distant. Here is Christ Church, again, with the clock tower of the good old PA Dept of Records. We are far enough downstream that Christ Church is to the right of the Dept.of Records, which is a good long way (as the pedestrian thinks of it) from Christ Church. That clock tower must be quite tall.
I believe this ship is open for tours. I am very glad that military vessels are not needed anywhere near where I live.
Camden, New Jersey, is home to an active modern seaport.
Tons of scrap metal, waiting to go ... somewhere.
Philadelphia. Looks nice and parky near the river......
I wonder how old these buildings are. The pair in the upper right have kind of wonky roofs; I suspect they are old.
The same tall ship we saw earlier in the day.
I'd sort of assumed this was a working ship. Then I saw these dots on the rigging, which I bet are lightbulbs. Now I'm wondering if this ship actually sails, any more...........
I took this pic because of the swan boats. Upon looking at it on "the big screen," I have titled it "Things, Lined Up."
Swan boats, blue gate bits, railings, flags, buildings, windows, monument bits, trees..... About the only solitary examples of things are the rope-tying-on thing, and the person in red (by the tree trunk near the upper left of the blue gate).
Gull. This one looks like an adult, but has black eyes, and a neutral-color beak. I'm guessing now that the juvenile I was comparing to that adult with the red-rimmed yellow eyes was one of these, rather than one of the yellow-eye kind.
Aquarium wrap up -- hordes of screaming children.
Lots of things to touch. Rays, sharks, starfish..... We touched rays, which were slimy. I was surprised. They are shark relatives. Sharkskin is rough (I know I've read it was used for sandpaper, before there was sandpaper). I thought the rays would be rough, too.
The penguin keepers were interesting to listen to. Their commentary made the penguins much more interesting.
Jellies and seahorses are always cool (if hard to photograph).
It would be nice if the info about the critters in the dark places was illuminated.
Way too many screaming children.
People. Really. Don't let your kids bang on the glass. Sheesh.
PASS on the movie! Sheesh.
In one sentence -- can't hold a candle to the aquarium in Chicago.
.
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