Elvie's Year in Photos 2011: Day 268 Bristol

We were determined to do something a little more interesting today. The original plan was a cycle ride to Cardiff Bay but it was quite damp and drizzly this morning and we didn't fancy splashing through muddy puddls. Plan B was Bristol, in particular the zoo, only about an hours drive from home but we've not been there for ages. En route & totally out of character Ian announced he really fancied a MacD's, so we stopped at one just off the motorway for an early lunch. From there the route into Bristol took us over the Clifton Suspension Bridge. We parked on the far side and walked over it as it seemed worth a closer look. It's a very impressive bit of engineering, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened, after his death, in 1864. The light wasn't great for photos as it was drizzling with rain but I had to take a few! Next was the zoo. It's changed a lot since we were last there and even more since we remember going there on school trips in the early 1960's. The awful bear pits have vanished, the large animals such as zebra, giraffe and elephants are gone. The old giraffe house is still there but now housing a couple of okapi. The pens and cages are bigger with more undergrowth and activities or the animals, this did make it quite difficult to see some of them at times. There are more smaller animals and the emphasis now is very much on conservation.

My main photo is of a very sad looking spider monkey. He was in a big enclosure with plenty of ropes, swings etc and other spider monkeys but he just looked very sad, sitting on a rope hugging his knees. I wonder what he was thinking & feeling.