A Day at the Aquarium

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to spend a nice leisurely afternoon at the new Aquarium in San Francisco's GG park. Now, I have memories of this place, specifically:

1. Taking two kids to the aquarium on Wednesdays to see the fishes, spiders, snakes and seal feeding shows when I was a nanny.

2. Going to the Laserium show on weekends with the high school gang to see "Pink Floyd's the Wall" and "The Beatles" - music put to lasers and stars.

Well, those days are OVER, and the new and improved aquarium was quite impressive. Since I had no kids hanging off my legs this time, I was able to relax and take a lot of photos. We will start with some photos of the lobby offerings:

Then it was on to the new "Rain Forest" exhibit, three floors of humid air, frogs, giant fish and butterflies:
Here's the view from the top:

and the view from the bottom:
Then it was on to the very extensive aquarium portion of the museum:

What do you think the image below represents?

a. things found along Highway One after a storm

b. stuff found on the floor of my car after watching the kids for a few days

c. the contents of a great white shark's stomach

If you guessed C - you are correct. Well, actually B is correct, too.
More images from the aquarium:

Here is a photo to show you just how big that big ass carp is:

Some spooky jelly fish - I usually see the cheap cousins of these creatures on the beaches where I live.
We apparently interrupted some "lizard loving":

and more jellyfish:I was happy to see that the Hall of Animals was still around:

Then it was off to see a CHILDREN'S film about nature:
Well, it was a horrifying film. Thank god it was only 30 minutes long. SPOILER ALERT: The ending, with the just murdered butterfly's wings drifting dramatically down into a creek to be washed away...a bit dramatic, I felt.

We also saw the new Laserium show - with Whoopi Golberg scaring the crap out of me by narrating how stars and planets are born and die. It wasn't her voice that scared me, it was the knowledge of just how fragile our whole existence is and how it could end at any time.

With that in mind, we headed to the gift shop.

The crystals below actually glowed when you purchased a 2.99 stand with laser lights in it:

Of course we bought them.

A last look at the lobby before we headed out:

Here's me, uh, riding a turtle. I don't know why.

On the way out, I noticed the following DISGUSTING AND TOTALLY UNNECESSARY PHOTO:

get some shoes already.

An even bigger travesty is having to look at the De Young museum across the street. I mean, WTF? THIS is considered a good replacement design?

Even the fish and frogs were looking away...