Leipzig Zoo

I'm not an animal fan. At all. I don't DO animals. I don't like pet bunnies or pictures of puppies hanging in trees, and I think house pets are just too much vacuuming. I also claim to dislike zoos (although, I do believe that it's a good place for animals- not in my HOUSE, but in their own natural habitat). I think I've changed my mind.

The Leipzig Zoo is a bit like Animal Kingdom at Disneyworld- but waaay less crowded, a bit cooler and breezier, and with better food. And playgrounds. And alcohol in open containers.

Yep- Leipzig (of great shopping fame) has won me over again. It's about an hour and a half away-driving- and the zoo is right downtown (which means me, holding Russ's iPod with some directions application, unsure which purple line we should be following, lots of one way streets, construction barriers, and bikers- essentially a driving nightmare), but it's well worth the trip. 

To be fair, the past two days have been the most gorgeous weather. I feel a bit like a Pilgrim when I say this, but the winter was LONG AND HARD and overall, Germany is fairly dull in winter. I mean, there's no biking, no beer gardens, and definitely no zoo-going. But we finished school yesterday for our two week break with a staff gathering in the school garden (beer, wine, champagne, and big soft pretzels) and it was so warm people were afraid of sunburn. Today was more of the same- nearly 70 degrees Farenheit and slightly breezy- fantastic weather. I think I'd forgotten what it feels like to go out without coat, scarf, hat, boots, and gloves. For each of us. 

The zoo itself is stunning- all the animals in their natural habitats (somehow- not sure about how that works in the (long and hard) winter) and lots of rope-and-bamboo-bridges. Huts appropriate to the "continent" you're on- and every continent was represented. Bratwurst, beer, and wine for sale at every hut (instead of Coke and McDonalds) and a fair amount of ice cream. Lovely animals - really- very vivacious, not sickly- monkeys climbing on high ropes courses, zebras and giraffes grazing out by the picnic area, and lions lazing in the sun. We all liked the monkeys best- I haven't really seen too many chimpanzees lately (ever?) and honestly, they're very human-like. Russ loves the Bonobos so we watched them for a while and marveled at their hands (really, it's a bit frightening because they look very realistically human, and of course, these creatures kept STARING at us, I swear they are very smart, and wondering what we were doing skipping the ropes course fun inside their home and instead sitting on a stone bench outside, and that's a bit creepy for me, to be fair, my animal-prejudice is still alive and well even though I had a lovely day at the zoo). 

There are mini-ropes courses everywhere (outside of the animal habitats of course, these are just for the children) and Fiona demonstrated her skill on the rope swing- we were trying to teach her how to hold it, and she just said "I have one at school. Watch how I do it," and off she zipped. Apparently rope-swinging is a required kindergarten skill- who knew? There are playgrounds, camel rides, and lovely picnic areas. It was a gorgeous day and we topped it off by leaving the zoo in the afternoon and walking a few blocks to STARBUCKS! Where we again could sit outside- seriously, we haven't been outside since the Christmas Markets and even then we had to huddle over a fire-in-a-trash-can. 

I don't go to a lot of zoos as you can imagine, so I kept claiming that this was a very "natural" zoo (meaning, I think, that animals are not in actual cages. I'm not sure if the last time I was at a zoo was in the 70s but I'm pretty sure, when I think about it, that they don't do that anymore).  And it just shows how long we've been here that neither one of us was really (bothered? disturbed? thrilled?) by the fact that everyone walks around with a beer or glass of wine (at the ZOO! If felt like Epcot Center) and sits, drinking, watching the animals. I think it's a much better approach to animals, to be honest. If one must be there (because, really, where else would one go on such a gorgeous day but outside, and when one has a three-year-old, one must go to the zoo), eating ice cream or drinking a beer is a far better way to enjoy the monkeys. I bet after hours the monkeys all break out and drink the dregs and mock the visitors. They were that human-like.