Thursday 11th June 2009
We came back to the former site of Expo ‘98 this morning with the key aim of visiting the Oceanarium (the second largest in the world - the first being in Osaka Japan, so there’s a target!). We took the cable car ride from the car park to the oceanarium which was really lovely and great to get a different perspective on this vast site. 
The oceanarium was brilliant, it basically consists of one main, huge tank where all the rays, sharks and large fish are, then four smaller tanks, each representing one of the world’s oceans, so Antarctic, Indian, Pacific and Arctic. The stars of the show for me were undoubtedly the sea otters that we saw lounging around, before starting a relatively energetic bathing routine! The central tank was also brilliant with many different species of fish all in one tank. 
After the oceanarium, time for lunch. We found a restaurant called La Parilla - like the one in Swansea except this one was Argentinian food and had perhaps our best (proper) meal this holiday with grilled salmon and swordfish (half each) with salad, chips, black beans and grilled veg. Very satisfying.
We then explored the park a bit more to find the railway station, which although completely concrete had a certain futuristic look about it and was connected to a massive shopping centre with the inevitable food court on the top floor (we made the best choice by eating in one of the riverside restaurants - no doubt!).
Another ice cream to round off the day and return to base where we’re both currently sat on the terrace with a cold beer :) A lovely end to a wonderful holiday - up early tomorrow to catch the flight home - should be back in Bristol by lunch.