Friday, May 18, 2007

Lions and tigers and bears (in the middle of the city)

Audrey (my cousin) arrived in Berlin on Tuesday, so I´m no longer travel buddy-less. She is staying with some relatives in Berlin, so we´ve been meeting up each day in the city to site-see and speak "American" together. Since we´re staying in different parts of Berlin, it means that I have to find my way home using the bus and metro system all by myself - and my navigational skills could definitely use the practice. It´s good for me . . . and it sure makes me appreciate (and miss) Katie´s map-reading skills!

Today we spent a fun (and sunny!) afternoon walking around the Berlin zoo. We´re now giving our legs a break at an Internet cafe. I can´t download pictures to post here, but hopefully I can get some up soon.

The line to see Knut, the zoo´s celebrity baby polar bear, was ridiculous. He´s only available for viewing a couple hours each day. We did finally get close enough to see him, though - and he´s quite cute. It was our lucky day for seeing baby animals, in fact - we also saw an infant monkey, warthog, jaguar, buffalo . . . I guess spring is a good time to visit. The Berlin Zoo is well-designed for seeing the animals up close. We were amazed at how few barriers were used in some of the exhibits. For example, the rhino was close enough that we could have reached out and touched him - and there was only an ankle-high rail and a small ditch in between us. Europeans must not be as lawsuit-happy as Americans.

2 comments:

Katie :) said...

awwww, I miss you too!!! I'm glad to hear that you have another buddy, and are having a good time!!!

Anonymous said...

We love hearing of your escapades! Good for you in learning how to get around all by yourself. Stay safe and keep us up to date.