The illusion of freedom. Me and Emily went to the zoo, i was so excited at the prospect and it really lived up to my expectations. I was a little worried that it would be a zoo that mistreated the animals, but on the whole it seemed legitimate and the enclosures on a whole were nice and big and i particularly liked how many of the animals, instead of being caged up were put on islands surrounded by water, this seemed much nicer, but was it just 'an illusion of freedom'. I saw loads of animals as you would expect, i loved theses camels, of the two humped variety, they were really great and walked with such a swagger as if they knew they were the business. I panicked for a while when i thought that there was no giant anteaters but we found it in the end but it let me down as it kept walking in the opposite direction to the camera. There was this cable cart that circled the whole zoo which gave a great view of Lisbon. There was a dolphin show that was amazing, but no kiler whales. I was surprised at how unbusy it was seeings as it was a saturday during the easter holidays and it was perfect zoo weather, but not that im complaining. If it was London zoon you wouldnt have got a foot in the door or actually seen any animals besides screaming children. Thinking about the Tourists Gaze and what it says about museums being tourist traps, is the same appliable to zoos. It is interesting going to a zoo in a foreign country as in essence zoos are simulating different climates etc, yet you can tell a lot about a country from its zoo i think. You can tell the atttitude towards wildlife and conservation, Lisbon scored highly on this front especially in comparison to the Thai zoo my parents informed me about. And Emily was perfect company.

Putting my critical studies hat on i have decided that my essay is going to called the Erasmus gaze, the title is the hardest part now i just have to do it. This last few days have been perfect weather and its only going to get hotter, its like British summer time yet it is only spring. We went to the Indian restaurant tiwce in like four days once with Jo and her mum and the other to show Emily off brialliant both times, we have become regulars. After the latter meal we went to Crew Hassan for a couple of beers which was cool as always, they played some wicked reggae music and even a raga esque version of Ready or not by the Fugees which i actually quite enjoyed but i think i was alone in that thought.