A new lens = a reason to go exploring downtown

We just recently bought an ultra wide angle lens so last weekend we went out and about in search of things to photograph with it.

First we went to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory...
... and took some pictures of flowers...
... and we figured since we were there we might as well stop in at the como zoo...
... in comparison to the Munich Zoo in Germany our zoos seem to have much higher fences and lots of signs for people who don't read them.... I am convinced all of our big fences and stuff are really for keeping the people out instead of keeping the animals in... as an example while at the Munich Zoo I was amazed at the fact that the only thing keeping the wolf in was a mote of water... but more surprising was that the only thing keeping the humans out was a shin high barrier (that most kids here would use as a balance beam)... and three feet of grass on the other side before the mote... this guy would probably take the lack of fence and warning signs as an invitation to swim the mote and pet the wolf. (The sign below most definitely does not say place your child as close to the wild animal as possible... )

After washing our hands.... (zoo germs mixed with Ethiopian food that you eat with your fingers is not so appetizing)... we went to Fasika for lunch and had the lamb combo and the vegi combo... and lots of Ingera... that is a very sponge-like flat bread made from Teff that you use to pick your food up instead of using utensils...
After lunch we went downtown to walk off all the food and take more pictures... the sun is going down early these days...
... walking amongst the big buildings...
... the day started off cloudy so it was nice to see the sun for a little bit..
... there is a camera shop downtown that we stopped at... it on this corner...
... while there I tried on a macro lens and took a picture of a penny...
... and a portrait of a Felbie...
... we are thinking a macro would be nice... but for now I put my new ultra wide back on and took off out the door!!! Into the Minneapolis's theater district...
... where we came across Fogo de Chao... a Brazillian Steakhouse! I have been wanting to try one of those. I am told that you recieve a round disk that you place on the table and you turn the green side up when you want to be served more meat and the red side up when you are full or busy eating what you have... it is an all you can eat type place where servers constantly come around with big hunks of meat on skewers... and there is a salad bar too... but you eat mostly meat.
Just something random... we are in the theater district and all the world is a stage...
Pink sky!
... we have a new light rail commuter train in town... however this is not it... this is the old one... the new one is on the other side of town... (over by the camera store we went to...) It goes to the north burbs... this one goes to the south...
On our way back to the car...
... I decided to play around with slow shutter speeds and panning on our way back...
... and that got us talking about how supposedly you don't have to use a tripod at night with a digital SLR so we stopped in St. Paul to try that theory out at the Capitol...
... and the Cathedral... I guess you don't (need a tripod) as long as you have enough ambient light...