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DAY 4!!!
After 3 days of history of the Prussians, the Cold War, Hitler, the Third Reich, the Berlin Wall, Nazis and Palaces galore - we decided to go all out for our final day. We were off to the Berlin Zoo!
Now Berlin is a very special place as far as zoos are concerned. Due to the Berlin Wall, there are infact two zoos. One in the East and one in the West. In the East there is the Tiergarten and in the West there is the Zoologischer Garten. Between the two zoos, Berlin is home to one of the largest collections of species in the world. We visited the Zoologischer Garten in the West. Before you even get to see any photos, I am going to put it out there that I think it was possibly the best zoo I have ever visited - and I didn't even get to feed the giraffes!
So, we set off from our hotel on Sunday morning. Naturally I was wearing my giraffe leggings. But I did forget my ears/horns which made me sad. I have tried really hard to not bore you with photos of every animal we saw - because there were plenty. But I have included a selection of my favourites.
This was the entry point and the start of our day at the zoo.
First animal we saw - a plated rhino. Very impressed by his armour.
Michael found some mountain goats - their house reminded me of the Mountain Goat from Hoodwinked. Yes I started singing his silly song ... "I've got horns that open bottles, and horns that hold my keys..."
Finally I saw my beloved giraffes!
Note the resemblance....
Mummy, Daddy and baby - baby born on the 20th of February this year!
The monkey house was full of action!
I was so proud of this photo - mid leap!
Monkey food preparation room!
The award for most colourful butt definitely goes to this guy!
Love the ears!
Three wise Monkeys?
I just loved this guy, so casual, leaning against the glass!
Ok, this fountain was too funny to not take photos of.
YAK!
Michael and I thought the animal enclosures were really lovely.
A seal waving hello!
The penguins...
These two vultures were mid fight when I got this shot! It was very vicious and I couldn't get a great photo otherwise, they were moving too quickly behind the fence!
ZEBRAS!
Michael was a little frightened of the giant lizard outside the aquarium!
Leopard....
... and tigers were right next to each other, and they did not like it one bit.
An ant eater! The nocturnal area was amazing - the best I've ever seen. All the animals were active and they had animals I had never seen before. But we couldn't get many photos. This was the only good one.
Ohh, mr Lion!
A quick fountain pose...
Followed by a quick Hippo pose... about to go into the hippo enclosure.
BABY HIPPO!!!!
a not so baby hippo! This guy was huge!
And this one suddenly surfaced as we were walking away. We had no idea he had been there under the water!
The polar bears at this zoo are a huge attraction. This is where Knut, the famous polar bear from Berlin Zoo was born, raised and sadly died.
We saw white wolves! These were so pretty to watch! Never seen anything like it!
Stopping for a bite of lunch, we were amused by the napkins!
This bear couldn't help but step out to sniff the air for a bit.
This cheeky guy kept nudging the keeper till he gave him some bread!
These hippos were so cute - we were really lucky to walk back past the enclosure as they were being fed and they were all out of the water!
Donkey!
Ooooh, just loved this guy's moustache! Seriously - do yourself a favour, enlarge this picture. Just click on it!
For the first time in my life I saw a real flamingo!
Sorry for the fence but they were so pretty! The bird, not the fence.
Not flamingos but still pretty
Back at the Mountain goat shack!
Oh hai!
BABY ELEPHANT!!!!! Born in March this year!
With the family!
This guy was kept in a separate enclosure on his own.
More freestanding flamingos!
Sorry - back to the giraffes. You all know they are my favourite!
Sort of like Abbey Road I thought....
Bambi baby!
Michael found a friend!
These orang-utans were the best!
This orang-utan was huge. I mean human sized huge. He was a fully grown basketball player sized orang-utan.
Just watch the swing - and the dreads!
When he was finished his swing he looked back to check if people were still watching him!
But all eyes were on this little guy!
Sadly, that was the end of the day at the zoo. We left through the main entrance - the famous Elephant gate.
So after that we headed back into town to the Topography of Terror. This was where a stretch of the Berlin wall was saved from destruction and is now the home of a memorial and museum. It was very interesting but it also infuriated me. I read alot of information at the museum and where I once harboured great resentment towards Hitler, I discovered an even bigger hatred for his right hand man - Joseph Goebbels. There were excerpts from his private diary from throughout the war and the lead up to it. It made me sick reading them, listening to his cocky attitude towards killing people and how he thought he was so right to rid the world of Jews. Euch. I did not enjoy the Topography of Terror, but I did gain alot in terms of knowledge and understanding. And it was very well presented.
So after all that, we made our way back to the hotel, picked up our suitcase and made our way to the airport. This marks the end of our awesome holiday and 3 glorious blogs!
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