Boston's New England Aquarium is pretty good, as aquaria go. The centrepiece is a three storey cylindrical tank with spiralling walkways around the outside, containing everything from eels to sharks to giant turtles. How they manage to stop the exhibits from eating each other is a bit of a mystery. Outside at the back of the aquarium are various marine mammal exhibits1.
What's truly noteworthy about this particular aquarium, however, is the café-style restaurant; specifically, the fact that it serves seafood. Yes, once you've finished looking at the fishes in the aquarium exhibit, you can pop next door and eat a few. Visit the exhibit hall to learn how salmon spawn, then visit the café experience how salmon taste.
This feature proved to be somewhat controversial when it opened. Most people eat fish and animals, but many prefer to shield themselves and their children from the full reality of the situation. Seafood restaurants are everywhere in Boston, but somehow people felt it was in uniquely bad taste to be so blatant about where the tasty treats came from.
At the time of writing, the Franklin Park Zoo, also in Boston, had a petting zoo - but it doesn't serve lamb chops or rabbit pie.
1 Including Abra and Nellie, two adorable sea otters.
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