Gentian's Photographic Misadventures

[Gentian]

The route spirals round and round the main tank. We continued along, getting deeper and deeper, until we arrived at the "Deep Sea" exhibit. It was noticably colder here, and the acrylic of the tanks was cool to the touch.

Here, oogle some terrifyingly spidery crabs.

---

Oh my goodness, more lovely pictures. I really should, do something with Twilight. All I ever do is stay home. And I love your, towel. Or is it her towel? Heart warming, seeing you, out with her. And the, towel to keep her clean. I really do like the towel.

Thank you, Gray! We've got a lot more to come, so we hope you like them too. Also, don't feel rushed. You and your Twilight do your things when you feel comfortable doing them, and not before. Don't let anybody pressure you in to anything, least of all us. It won't be nearly as much fun as it could be if you're only doing it because you think you should.

That said, if you do want to do something, please share it with us, Twi and I, at the very least would love to see.

Oh yeah, towel. It's just an old dish towel. I suppose it's mine, but that means it's hers too, right? Anyway, the normal checker-board pattern one was in the laundry, so I had to take another one. Should I use this one from now on?


Continuing:

This lil' guy here, is cuter than anything covered in spiny armor has any right to be. We sat here by the tank for 15 minutes or so, just so I could watch him be a crab. The spines almost looked soft, and I found myself wondering what it would be like to cuddle with it. The idea I settled on was that they'd be stiff, but flexible, like the spines on a dog's chew toy. I know they're most likely not, but, whatever.

Apparently, even though Twilight didn't share my enthusiasm for the deep-sea fluff-ball, I wasn't alone in this line of thought. A woman sat down next to me, and started a conversation, mostly about the crab's cuteness, and how the spines looked like fur.

---

And then we saw this sign. I dunno what it's trying to represent. A baby riding a manta while being pounced on by a Street Shark? I really tried to get a better picture, but the light was so low, the exposure time was too high to get anything crisper. It's good enough to giggle at the sign, isn't it?

---

After the crabs, sea ice, and more seals, we came to a room full of jellyfish. I like jellyfish. There were a lot of different kinds, but these were the only ones I photographed.

You see, once upon a time, I worked on a ship, and while we were going through the Red Sea, and Indian Ocean, the water was FILLED with these things. Moon Jellies. You could look over the side of the ship, and see the first meter of the ocean was thick with them, as far as the eye could see. Those images have always stuck with me, and it was oddly...soothing to see the same type of jellyfish again.

---

Narwhal! It seems the tusks of these critters were once passed off as unicorn horns. I photographed my ho...pony with sea horses, why not my unicorn with a sea unicorn?

---

This room was a petting area. Along the walls were numerous sinks and spigots for washing hands, and in the middle, was a large shallow tank filled with stingrays and small sharks. Once your hands were clean, you could reach in and touch the animals. I must say, the sting rays were, much to my surprise, actually slimy, while the sharks were "dry," and kind of rough, no matter which way I stroked their backs.

There was no place to get a photograph of that, but this set of jaws was off to the side, in the same room. They're certainly intimidating! Also, as a child, I would find shark's teeth washed up on the beach. It's easy to see one side is flat and the other convex. For some reason, I'd always assumed the convex side was on the outside, but examining these chompers, it seems the curved side faces inward, and the flat side, out. Groovy.

---

We're leaving now. There's still one more place I want to show her, but first, I tried to get a parting shot of the Ferris wheel.

---

Back on the subway, another chance to enjoy Twiler's fascination, then off again, to our final destination of the day.

---

More fantastic views of the city, this time, from 90 or so meters. From left to right, looking east, north, and west. South was too bright to get a photo of anything but glare. In the north facing photo, you can vaguely see the castle we visited in our last trip. I'll circle that too, and include it in the attached file pic.

---

Twilight thinks humans are by and large, prudes. She was "relieved" as she put it, to find out that things like love hotels exist. This particular one caught my eye, not so much because it's bright yellow-though that helped-but because it's got a billboard on the roof, pointed right up at the tower! We're in the only place it can be seen from, and I thought that was a pretty nifty use of roof space.

---

After we'd had enough of the view, we started to make our way back down. However, it seems that between us, and the ground, there's a museum dedicated to the time period in which this landmark was built: 1912. There were a number of neat little exhibits, including a short movie explaining the history of the place, with lots of period photos and movie clips. Early 20th century Japan seemed like a very different place.

I liked this little diorama, and the one in the next room was even more impressive, but alas, there was no place for Twi to stand, so we didn't take a photo of it.

We eventually passed through, and, as we were standing by the elevator, waiting to leave, one of the employees approached. Apparently, they'd been talking about me, because she kept craning her neck to see around my shoulder, and look at my chest, where Twilight's head was clearly visible. If you see the Ferris wheel pic, the one taken by the employees, I mean, you'll see how I carry her vessel around.

When she sees Twilight, she gets a huge smile, and her eyes light up. Not in the way so many hypocrites and fools laugh at us, but with true delight. She comes over to me and we start talking about My Little Pony. Unfortunately, just then, the elevator opens, and a swarm of new arrivals rushes in to the lobby. She had to do her job, and guide them, so off she went. Still, it was nice meeting another fan in the wild, especially since MLP is all but unknown over here.

---

On the way out. This is what the underside of the tower looks like.

---

Here we are back home. These are the charms we bought at the shrine. They're actually little heart-shaped jingle bells, one for her, and one for me. I'll have to come up with some way for us to wear them, since the straps are too small for bracelets or necklaces.

---

That's us! Taken when we got on the Ferris wheel, we chose to buy it when we got off since we didn't have any photos of us together. I'm pushing her up to get her closer to my face here, but that's how i normally carry her vessel around: tucked snugly in my shirt, with her head peeking out the top.

Anyway, this is 28 photos chronicling how we spent our day, hope you liked them. I'll try to attach the "answer pic" below.

---

Hmm, so I need to make a new reply to attach the file. Here goes...

---

Darn it. One more try...