The BioDome and the Pancake Day from Hell!!

I haven't been too busy recently, but when I get visitors (a recurring one, from Mont Tremblant, actually) I have to make sure we can do something fun, even on the shoe-string budget we both have!

So this time when Kate came back to the city, we took as visit to the last touristy place that I think I needed to see- the old Olympic stadium complex and BioDome. The Olympic stadium wasn't much to look at to be honest, just a garish 1970s architectural masterpiece, with an observation tower that wasn't much higher than the third-story apartment I live in.



The BioDome was fun, though. It was cheap, just $13, and we got plenty of good times out of it! There were four different climates, in four different rooms. In the first room, there was a rainforest awash with parrots, monkeys, crocodiles, fish and lush greenery. The small monkeys dangled down from the branches just above our heads, and some of the exotic birds invaded our walkway!

Room two took us into the forests of Northern Canada, where the Otters were the stars of the show. They glided through the water with brilliant grace, and then curled up in their hole and were like 'ikkle cuddly kittens!

Room three was a water one, which we soon got through because there were seagulls circling over our heads, and they looked like they were pretty full and might need to offload something pretty soon! So we moved onto room four in the Arctic where the penguins were brilliant! There was one which had gone mental because of the captivity we think, but once it stopped whacking its head on the glass it got to swimming and was awesome!



So we had a very busy afternoon! Back home in the house, Kate and I inspected the melted lino in the kitchen, which I had actually created the day before. Shrove Tuesday meant pancakes, and Kate bought all the ingredients in.....our mix was PERFECT, I promise! I blame the pan, but the mix just stuck to the hot surface and became a gooey pile. It still tasted good, but I am the only one that can vouch for that now.

So when I went to flip the gooey pile, the handle of the pan decided to make a break for freedom, and the pan when flying! After getting over the initial shock of the pan breaking, the secondary shock was that the blistering hot metal frying pan had stuck itself to the linoium floor!


Needless to say, I had some apologising to do when the others got back. Is that the thanks I get for trying to be a whizz in the kitchen? I'll stick to my beans and cheese on toast from now on.