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We're now signed up members of ZSL so thought we'd take the opportunity to revisit London Zoo. It's probably been more than 10 years since we've been and last time we weren't terribly impressed so we were a bit apprehensive and probably wouldn't be going if it wasn't free. It is worth noting that the zoo would normally cost £29.25 each today and £31.50 if we had left it until the weekend so the membership is worth it if you can go more than once as it would quickly add up for a family. 

This time around the zoo did seem so much better than the last time we came, I think the enclosures are perhaps a bit smaller than Whipsnade, but nevertheless the lions and tigers seemed to have plenty of room to explore. The gorillas were great to see and were all out roaming in their outdoor enclosure, but we had a great view of the lions and tiger too. Right now it seems the be the annual weigh in at both Whipsnade and London zoo, and whilst we were there today we saw the porcupine getting weighed - it was quite a mission getting them to stay on the scales one at a time, but fun to watch. There is plenty to see and we made it to closing without seeing a number of the animals including the aquarium, so will probably be revisiting before too long. 

In short the zoo was a good day out. I think the pricing is a little steep, but I guess it is central London and if it's practical the membership is definitely worth it. I've added some photos from our day out, but I'll stop there as it's probably about time to call it a day as it's results day tomorrow! 

This is just a quick one to wish Dani a very Happy Birthday. We went to the zoo again this year and are now members so we'll be able to go a lot more!

So today is our last proper day in Washington, we fly home tomorrow. We had some breakfast and headed out just before 10. We had decided to start at the Licoln memorial as there were a few other memorials nerby that we hadn't seen the other day. We caught the free circulator bus to Union Station and then changed to the circulator to Lincoln Memorial. We got off a stop earlier to have a look at the Martin Luther King Jnr memorial a 30 foot statue emerging from the mountains of dispair, represented as two large boulders in the background. Many of the words from his speeches and sermons are etched into the surrounding inscription wall, with the words "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope" taken from his 'I have a dream' speech carved directly into the side of the statue itself.

We moved on visiting the Korean war memorial which is represented by a series of statues of soldiers wading through undergrowth. The memorial is really poingnant with each of the statues looking out in a different direction just as the troops would move in a platoon. The statues are surrounded by a polished mural wall with pictures taken from the archives of other forces that suppored the Korean war including Army, Navy Marine corps and Air Force etched into the surface. We continued on past the Lincoln memorial but not stopping this time and instead continuing to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This consisted of the names of over 58000 men that gave their lives engraved in the memorial wall. The wall is sunk into the ground rather than have a raised profile, so it's difficult to see until you reach it. 

We continued on past the reflecting pool that sits between the Lincoln memorial and the Washington monument, and stopping at the WWII memorial. Dani had a paddle in the water and we sat for a while before moving on. Our last two stops of the day were at the American museum where we grabbed some lunch but didn't stay long and then at the African American museum which had some really interesting exhibits. Feeling a bit tired we headed back to the hotel for a break as we were planning to head out later for photos. We ended up going to a place between the hotel and the National Mall for tea called Matchbox - we went to another Matchbox restaurant last time we were in Washington, part of the same chain. Tea was very nice with us both having pizza and sharing cheescake for dessert. We left the restaurant and headed down to the mall to take few night photos of the Capitol Building and the Monument. Got back to the hotel quite late and packed up ready for tomorrow.