Day 5 - The aquarium

 Salut!

 Today in the morning we had more lessons in the language school, which were really enjoyable.

 We then went to get some lunch; Niamh and Sam and I found a lovely sandwich shop. I bought un sandwich parisien, and it was amazing. Quite possibly the nicest sandwich I have ever had. It contained salad, boiled eggs, ham and cheese, and it was wonderful. Absolutely delicious.

 The group then rendezvoused in the centre of Montpellier to go to the aquarium.

 The aquarium is in the Odesysseum, a new commercial centre situated just outside the city centre of Montpellier. We had to take the tram to get there. It was the beautiful blue tram with birds painted on it, which I had so looked forward to riding.

 This was my first time on it, and it was great; the trams are really comfortable and efficient and easy to use. I think every town and city should have a tram system like Montpellier's!

 We reached the Odysseum, and it is a lovely part of the city; it has a Roman-esque amphitheatre, which is really impressive, but the rest of the area is really modern, with a big shopping complex and a planetarium and an ice-rink and... the aquarium!

 It is called the Mare Nostrum - Latin for Mediterranean Sea - Aquarium.

 We went in and Zoe found a dolphin:

 There was a coin press so I got my very own Mare Nostrum coin:

 We then went into the aquarium itself, and the first thing we saw were the jellyfish - les méduses!

 There were lots of other fish and sea creatures of all shapes and sizes, and a lot of information about them. 

 We also got the chance to sail a boat! 

 Not a real boat! But it was still good fun.

 We then found the penguins! In English we call both big penguins and small penguins, "penguins". However, in French the bigger species of penguin are called, "les pingouins", and the smaller species are known as, "les manchots".

 The manchots we met were adorable.

 There was also a room which was dimly lit with gentle music playing; one wall of the room was the side of a huge tank full of all sorts of sea creatures. We sat there for a long time watching them swimming about; it was very soothing. We named a lot of the creatures we saw. Here is Zoe's photo of Frank the shark:

 We then moved on to a very tropical part of the aquarium, which was just like a rainforest and had lots of beautiful fish. Some of us were asked to give our opinions for a survey the aquarium were doing, and of course we all told them that it was amazing. It was a wonderful aquarium and I think I speak for everyone in saying that we would love to go there again.

 On the way out we passed a waterfall, which Flo very kindly photographed me next to:

 After leaving the aquarium itself, we visited the aquarium shop, where I bought my own little manchot:

 As you can see, she is completely adorable (the penguin I mean, not me!).

 We left the aquarium, and sat outside in the sun for a bit, then went home.

 That night, some of the group decided to go out, but I didn't really feel like it and instead I stayed in and did some blogging and emailed home. I had a nice quiet evening in.

 I am told that those who did go out had a good night as well.

 Altogether, today was lovely.

 Merci de lire

 Liz x