The Zoo

Well, today is Tuesday and we are leaving on Thursday.  My goodness!  But in the meantime, I thought I’d post a few pictures.

Last week we went to the zoo, the girls and me.  I wasn’t expecting too much, but I was really quite impressed.  The zoo wasn’t that large in area, but it had a lot of animals, quite a number of which I’d never seen before.  The part that was the best was that the cages were small with lots of animals and we got to get quite close and see the animals.  I know that isn’t very animal friendly, but it was perfect for little kids.

Flamingos and cranes.  They had cranes all over the park, building huge nests on top of the elephant house and light poles and everything.  They would clatter their beaks together and make a huge racket the whole zoo over.

This bear thing was a show-off and stood and waved at everyone.  He had leopard print all over his neck and tummy, but looked mostly like a bear.  His name was in Spanish and I can’t remember what he is.

The panda bear cubs are only two months old and the crown jewel of the Madrid zoo, they are the only giant pandas born in Europe in 2010.

The giraffes were close enough that if he reached and I reached, we could have touched.  I’ve never been so close before.

They had a huge marine animal section with penguins, seals, sea lions and dolphins on top of a quite impressive aquarium with giant sea turtles, sharks, rays and other fish.

This peacock was showing off for the girl – I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a display before.  Quite cool.

The best part of all was that they did a whole dolphin show for us.  They had 6 adults and 4 babies and they showed us all sorts of tricks – jumps, flips, spins, dancing, walking on water and more.  The girls just loved that part.

I’m told that the San Antonio zoo is quite impressive too, but we had a great time seeing the animals here.