Eden Project
The typical bank holiday weather was still present when we awoke on Sunday morning so we decided to schedule something indoorsy for the day. We chose the Eden Project.

The Eden Project is an environmental project, which aims to educate the public about our relationship with, and dependence on, plants. The main attractions at the project are three biomes, two indoor biomes and an outdoor biome. (Biome -- a complex biotic community characterized by distinctive plant and animal species and maintained under the climatic conditions of the region.) One indoor biome represents the tropics, and is kept at tropical temperatures. The other indoor biome is the warm temperate biome and represents regions like the Mediterranean. The outdoor biome represents the temperate regions of the earth, like England.

The indoor biomes are massive greenhouses made up of hexagonal pieces of EFTE foil (very strong glad wrap / cling wrap). They are quite striking and very futuristic looking. Andrew thought they looked like something out of Jurassic Park. I expect we'll be living in them in the future (when global warming destroys the environment!).

The Tropics biome was definitely the most popular of the three. It certainly was very warm in there. The path through the biome winds its way upward. The higher you go, the hotter it gets. At the top the temperature was around 35 degrees with 100% humidity. Not exactly a comfortable experience when you're dressed for the 10 degree temperatures out in the real world. I was stripping off the layers as we wandered through. We all had issues with the humidity. The condensation on the camera lens made it quite difficult to take photos.

Obviously, the focus of the Eden Project is the environment. To that end, the Eden Project is a very Green project. They recycle as much waste as possible and ask all visitors to sort their own rubbish and put it into 5 different garbage bins. They use recycled rainwater to flush toilets and to create the humid conditions in the Tropics biome. The electricity used by the project is generated by wind turbines in Cornwall. In fact, the whole attraction is on the site of disused clay mine. A venture that destroyed the local environment turned into one designed to save the world's environment.

As with all tourist attractions we've visited in England, the place was packed. We moved at a snail's pace through the tropics biome. Also, I've been to a real rainforest, so it wasn't exactly all that exciting to visit a mini-version. However, it was a good activity for a rainy day, and I can see that it would be a great place to take your kids. And most importantly, the environment is very valuable so a big pat on the back for the Eden Project and their conservation work.

(The cynic in me thinks that the current prominence of environmental issues is just a case of "I support whatever's trendy." An election is coming up in Australia and all of sudden Howard is talking about a Carbon emissions trading scheme. What about the Kyoto protocol? And what about carbon-off setting programmes? Can someone quantify the benefits for the environment? It all sounds very vague and airy-fairy.)


St Mawes
The weather was still atrocious, so we opted for another indoor activity. We headed to St Mawes Castle which is located in the town of St Mawes. The castle was built in the 1500s by King Henry and it is one of the finest remaining examples of Tudor military architecture. An audio guide was provided free with the price of admission. However, I soon gave up on the audio guide. I think I just wasn't in the mood to listen to a "salty old seadog" describe each room in explicit detail. I wandered from room to room, only choosing to listen to the audio guide in the rooms that I was interested in.

The castle was much bigger on than inside that it looked from the outside. Yoshida san (our Himeji castle tour guide) had explained that this was a defence strategy. Once invaders were in the castle, they would become lost and confused. Although, I'm sure there was a different overall strategy at Himejijo to St Mawes. At Himejijo, the guards had one purpose once the main fort was breached. They were to buy enough time so that Himeji's warlord could commit suicide and die honourably.


The Bay
We headed to The Bay that evening for a celebratory dinner in honour of Juzzy's Birthday. The Bay was slightly fancier than our venue the evening before. Good food, good service but it didn't have the personal touches that The Navy Inn had had the evening before. The Navy Inn is still my pick for Penzance.