Pretty decent night’s kip, and I had a bit more energy on awaking. Couldn’t do justice to the room service breakfast, though.

We swapped the original excursion for this one, as we were a bit tired of looking round old buildings and fancied a change.

This aviary is one of the largest in the world and demonstrates the extraordinary diversity of wildlife in this country.

I only had my phone with me, so, despite the modern phone camera being fantastically competent, it can never do justice to wildlife pictures, so I apologise in advance.

We were led around this by a guide whose name I couldn’t quite catch, but something like Matello. He appeared to be very knowledgeable, but he could have been pulling the wool over our eyes.

We were often really close to the birds, but it was exceedingly hot and only a few opportunities to rest out of the sun.

I took loads of photos, of course, and here is a small sample of them.

Information overload, really. It was interesting, and I’m glad I’ve seen it, but it was very long and very hot. I think everyone was glad to get back on the bus.

Back at the ship, the huge Norwegian Encore was moored alongside the Silver Nova.

After a period of R&R, we attended the second lecture by Dr. Buerk. This was about the dominance of the English language over all others, how it rose to prominence, faded, then reassumed its hegemony. It was obvious that the use of English was a pet issue of his, and he produced plenty of evidence as to why it maintains this status. Superb stuff with many hilarious anecdotes. Even the Yanks in the audience appreciated it.

I still had no appetite, so we decided to try room service for a meal for Jean. Took around 35 minutes, but it was very good.

Time for bed, and hoping for another good night’s kip. It’s a sea day tomorrow, so should have time to catch up a little.