Sunday, April 20, 2008

Edinburgh


" the entrance to Edinburgh Castle"
The last two weeks were easter holiday.. my baby was nagging all the time about going out then she asked me a surprise question : she wants to go to the zoo !! ... since she learnt about the story of Noah and his animals back in school and Dania is becoming more and more obsessed with animals. this is how the whole idea of Scotland came into our mind... Edniburgh is about 1 hour and 25 minuts away ( by train) and it has a zoo!!...
we surfed internet .. got a good hotel offer .. bought train tickets and off we went to the highlands.....

the city is huge with lots of hills and lots of ups and downs roads ( my legs are still aching !!!) ..scotish flags are everywhere .. as if they want to make sure that u don`t mistake it to any other british city ( coz honestly it is not much different) ...
although you are surrounded by many modern buidlings but still you can feel and breath the medivel atmosphere especially when you look over that famous castle ( it just reminded me of Brave Heart the famous movie !!) ..


" Dania infront of the castle with the princess !!"



the second day was Zoo day !! Dania was up really early.. very excited, she begged us to hurry ... we changed our clothes ..ate our breakfast and off to the street ... took the bus and few minutes later we were inside the zoo... I will never forget my daughter`s expression when she saw the first animal ( a sea lion ) swimming in the water.. she started to jump from one cage to the other .. as if she was afraid that animals will go away.... she would name each animal and ask me if she didn`t recognise one.... she enjoyed the monkeys ( we enjoyed watching them too !!) .. she was very excited to see the lion ... very afraid to see the snake ... but most of all very happy to see the pinguinis ( my favourate animals ) ...

the zoo is well equiped .. animals are maintained in their natural enviroments ...and facilities were excellent .. the only problem was the weather .. it was freezing cold .. most animals were hiding .. we had a hard time trying to find the tiger or the kuala !!

the day in the zoo was finished with a very funny ending .. the pinguins parade .. yes people it was a real parade .. we were standing on specific lines and peinguinis were marching infront of us looking at us in a very funny way ... I laughed really hard at the scene ... it was unbelievable...
here are some photos from the zoo:



"Dania at the entrance of the zoo"

in the evening we headed back to the hotel .. took our bag and went to the station.. Dania was exhausted ( so do we !!) she slept all the way back to Newcastle ..
it was a good short break .. we enjoyed the whole trip .. Dania is still talking about the zoo and about the castle with the princess in it !! ..but she realised today that Edinburgh zoo has no Giraffes or Elephants ... !!!! she was right .....
Best regards
Um Dania

19 comments:

Anglo-Libyan said...

nice trip and pictures
MashaAllah 3ala Dania, she is cute :o)

kids love animals, we adults do too even if we do not admit it.
even London zoo has no big animals like rhinos and elephants but it does have giraffes, these days most large animals are moved to bigger parks where they can have more freedom to move.

Um Dania said...

Hi Angolibyan...
I admit that I adore animals .. and the zoo trip was a treat for me too...
I think these animals would never tolerate the dreadful weather as they were used to much warmer atmosphere !! (that`s my opinion ) ...
thanks for your comment
Um Dania

Anonymous said...

peace upon u (um Dania)
1st of all,i ask god 2 keep your lovely DANIA,she is really cute.
why dont u tell us your name?
because,i am female libyan dentist too.
i came to UK(London) 4 postgraduate study.
May u advise me....
your truly.

Um Dania said...

hey Colleague .. thanks for passing by and thanks for your lovely comment... well the reason behind not putting my name is to have some freedom in speaking and expressing myself and I mentioned that in a previous post .. now was that a good idea or not ? I don`t know but really I prefer to stay anonymous for the time being ..although some of my friends and "colleagues" did recognise me coz they know the name of my daughter and my husbad or simply coz they know where I live at the moment...
hope you find your stay in London a fruitful experience .. I like London but just for short stays honestly .. it is too loud for me !!!
why don`t you start you own blog to tell us about your experience .. it will be a good idea I think !

thanks again
Um Dania

Anonymous said...

hi umDania/
wish u r ok,
& thanks 4 your reply.
Thanks also 4 your great idea,
how s your postgraduate study?
i guess that u r a brilliant dentist...
GOOD LUCK &NICE LONG WEEKEND..

MaySoon said...

Nice to read about your trip.. may Allah bless you & your family..

I had to laugh comparing what Daina have seen visiting the zoo to what Meral saw yesterday at the "LIBYAN" Zoo.. it was a trip day at the day care she goes to , when she came home I was asking her how it was and what they saw.. her reply was "Chickens.. emmm Birds.. Emmmm Cow.. and monkeys.." I was still going.. AND??? she said.. o khalas!! lol. it was like "shar elbalyeh ma ud7k"… I am glad we have books with all animals in them so at least she knows how they look like!..lol
Inshallah planning to take her to a REAL ZOO this summer.. :o)

Yalla enjoy Dania as much as you can, they grow up so quick! mashallah 3leha.

your lifetime friend said...

as always,whenever i read what you write,weather that is in english or in arabic,you always have a way of touching the depths of my heart,all i can say keep writing no matter which language you use,as long as it comes from the heart it will go straight to other peoples heart.god bless you my life-time friend.

Um Dania said...

my lifetime friend ..

I`m really impressed that u liked it ... I was really shy to show this blog to u but since the coincidences led u to find it I`m happy that u read it ..

best of luck

Um Dania said...

Maysoon ..
thanks for passing by... I know how miserable is Abusleem zoo .. I was priviledged enough to see the zoo in its glorious status when all animals were there: elephants, tigers, lions, crocodiles, rhinos, different species of monkeys .. but it was very painful watching those animals fading slowly .. untill all cages became empty ...
yallah .. let`s hope somebody step up to correct what went wrong..
zoo experience is something that children will never forget ( talking of myself, I never forget the first time I saw a lion for real).
kisses to Meral.. and plz Maysoon don`t stop posting .. it`s been almost three months since your last post ..

Um Dania

Herr Esharif said...

Thanx sis 4 sharing ths trip 'e us & may allah protect here dunia she looks as angel realy cute .. As myson says i take my family there we enjoyed n abuslim nt cuz many animals there bt cuz my little bro says funny comments abt lion looks thiny "meskin ma yoklosh feh " or elephant looks calm & sick &so on actualy no mch animals 2 see there as my little bro says " 3grodah Oo 7mamten " salam

Um Dania said...

Hello Abdallah .. I`m glad that u enjoyed reading this post .. and it is sad that our zoo back home is in such a miserable state... I love animals and would feel really sorry to see those animals in their miserable cages ...it is heartbreaking ...yallah let`s hope someday someone makes some changes coz we have an ideal weather for most of thse animals they need just some caring and love ..

Anglo-Libyan said...

Ramadan Mubarak to you and your family

كريمة الفاسي said...

كل عام وانت بخير أم دانية والبنوتة دانية
رمضان مبارك عليكم وبالصحة والسلامة

Hiba said...

رمضانك مبروك ياوخيتي
وكل عام وانتي وعائلتك بألف خير
يارب

Hannu said...

Happy New Year to you and Dania and abu Dania. Good luck in your studies and all.

Anonymous said...

we ask God 2 release your dad soon...i am really sorry 4 u.

Mohka said...

That rhino doesn't look real!

canvas prints said...

Lighten up Mohka, he's a loveable rhino!

John said...

Brilliant post, thanks a lot for sharing and love the Zoo!