Yesterday was family day, Florian had the day off and we collected his mum and took her to the Zurich Zoo….so my pictures are for the kids (or kids at heart!)
First up the penguins!
Then the pink flamingos…thriving and breeding in captivity….note the fluffy grey balls, they are the babies!
Then Trudy’s (Florian’s mum) favorite…. the Gelada Baboons!
It was another very pleasant 25 degree day with a bit of cloud cover!
As we headed towards the African wild lands…
The Baobab tress, looking very real, but are not! These are native to Africa, Australia and Madagascar and have been artificially replicated here in Zurich(for animal satisfaction) …….and like the Auckland zoo, there is a fine line between human satisfaction and animal satisfaction!
A zebra safari plane…not going anywhere!
The meerkats busily on display…this mumma feeding its baby while keeping lookout!
These rhinoceroses playing ball for the humans….oblivious of how close they are!
A Safari bus…no longer running…
The Zebras finally came close enough (while we were eating our sandwich) for a photoshoot! In the distance, there were ostriches, giraffes and springboks! But these guys were definitely taking advantage of the animal privileges of roaming on the far side!
Around the corner…one elephant (there are three evidently) was circling his domain and giving us snap happy onlookers a good photo opportunity!
We then went in search of the big cats (lions, leopards, pumas etc….this was definitely an animal satisfaction area and human viewers were not rewarded…we did however reward ourselves with an ice cream here after an uphill climb!
Then it was the monkey area!
The gorilla spent several minutes eyeballing me(or so it seemed!…maybe the white hair!)
While the gibbons were just hanging around!
Florian and I had a bit of a workout! When it came to pushing Trudy’s wheelchair up hill…she did walk some of them which was good…. even though, I have a few butt muscles I can feel today!
After several hours of zoo meandering we headed home around 3.30! Via the bottle store and supermarket
A meter of beer on offer….and for those less ambitious…..
A half meter! I splashed out on a mini bottle of fireball whisky as my throat was getting sore again…and took only a small shot (it was terrible tasting) when I got home….then slept for an hour an a half before our dinner date! Sore throat gone so my medication worked! And I was ready to party again… as if my 10000 steps (from the zoo) was not enough we walked to the restaurant another 1.5 kms..,
To meet Florian’s brother who is also a Camino addict….so we could swap stories! The ones you don’t write!
Benjamin, Verena and I…after our pizza! This time I avoided the calzone option and ordered a small one (that was still the size of a dinner plate) and slightly familiar….a Swiss Hawaiian version with a couple of pieces of pineapple on it!
As we walked home the lightening and thunder was rolling in and we had rain overnight…
And this morning….as Benjamin was off to school with his brolly!
While Verena worked, I repacked ready for my travels to Frankfurt (Germany) tomorrow…
Gave the cats their new pine cone toy (I had collected from the Zoo!) And finished my book (one less thing to pack)
This afternoon it cleared up and Verena shut her computer and we were out the door to walk through the farmlands…
Cabbages… we are only 5 minutes from the apartment and in the country!
Deer…the Bambi type with spots!
Apple trees….
Grapevines….also pear and plum orchards, fields of lettuce and corn and even a newly planted olive grove! Then on to the animal farm area….
The water buffalo’s…this big baby still drinking from his mum..,
And this little baby just wanting an ear scratch!
The big boys under cover licking up the last of their feed.. they are all very friendly and gentle and come to humans for a pat!
Stretching the legs for another 10000 steps…as tomorrow will be an upper body workout lugging my suitcase around train stations!
This evening Florian arrived home in full kit…
It was the annual new uniform issue day at work…and Verena got very excited as she hasn’t seen him in full uniform for years (now not on the streets) !!! But she does love her man in uniform!!!!
All who wander are not Lost girls 