"Everybody Knows It's Happening at the Zoo"

Dear Reader,

Cathedrals, castles, art museums, ancient ruins, scenic beauty are all reasons why I love to travel in Europe but every now and then I've discovered that it's important to do something a bit out of the ordinary for a change of pace. Lately I've discovered the amazing zoos in some European cities. If the weather is fine and your brain is fried from too much history, this is the place to be.

Unlike our zoos, at least the ones I've been to outside of New Orleans, these zoos have all kinds of beverages and local cuisine. If you're dying for that beer under a shade tree or next to a beautiful fountain, not a problem. Afterall, touring a zoo can be just as hard on the feet as walking on ancient stone streets and more distracting too.

On one particular trip to Central Europe I decided it was time to see some of the famous zoos as a change of pace. We visited three zoos on that trip, the Budapest Zoo, the Vienna Zoo and the Alpenzoo in Innsbruck, Austria. Each one had some very special aspects that made them memorable. We had also visited Prague on the same trip but the city had just suffered a terrible flood and one of their elephants drowned as a result and I just couldn't go there after such a tragedy. They claim they tried everything they could to save the elephant but I know the animal can swim so it's hard to believe after days of trying they could not rescue him. Something like this can really put me off on a place but we went to Prague anyway and enjoyed the city for it's uniqueness and music, food and beer, but not its zoo.

The first zoo we visited, and probably the best one, was the Budapest Zoo. It is truly a "hands-on" zoo. I've never been to any zoo where I could get that close to every animal no matter how shy or dangerous they might be. Often at the San Diego Zoo or the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, I wished that I could get a closer look at the giraffes or the zebras but they are far too shy to come near. Not so at the Budapest Zoo. They come right up to the fence and let you pet them and also feed them special pellets you can buy from vending machines. It's excellent. Suddenly I was five years old again and standing on the fence in order to reach over and pet the animals, including a rhinocerous! Yes, I petted a rhinocerous. He didn't seem to mind or even to notice me.

That day I also fed a camel who would stick out his tongue about 2 feet long and snatch the pellets out of my hand. I couldn't stop laughing at his mouth grinding around and around in between tongue lashings. I petted a zebra which behaved just like a pony and ate out of my palm.

But my favorite thing was an up close an personal view of the giraffes being fed. They bring these giants inside a feeding barn with a wall of plexi-glass about 4 feet high to separate them from humans. Their food is on the floor right in front of the glass so we were able to walk right up to them as the giraffes bent way way down to eat their food. Frequently the one I was close to kept raising his head way up to the ceiling inbetween bites as if to let me know he was watching me. It was so funny I couldn't resist trying to touch him. John said he'd give me a Euro if I touched his tassel. The giraffes have what appear to be tassels on top of he stump where their horns would be. They look rather like sprouting cauliflower for a better description. I took his bet and the next time the giraffe bent over to eat I reached over the glass and rubbed his tassel. This did not go over well because he suddenly raised his head way up to the full length and gave me a really mean look while he did it. It didn't seem to frighten him though because a minute later he was bent over eating some more so I touched his tassel again. This was just too much. John and I were laughing hard at this point and the giraffe looked really perturbed. I could hear him thinking "How would you like it if I kept messing with your head while you are trying to eat?" But I won my Euro and since that day have been known as "Kathy Giraffe Tassel", a title of which I am very proud.

At that point in the day I thought I had experienced the very best until we wandered into the elephant feeding barn. All of the elephants had just been marched inside in a line, trunk to tail, by size and age and stopped to a whistle command. Another command and they all turned to face us looking at them through the plexi-glass. All that is except the baby. He was adorable and a bit confused. He did fine on the march into the building but when the all turned about face he first ran left and then ran right before being pulled into line. I fell in love with him instantly. Each elephant had an enormous feast of his very own which looked quite good. It was a huge pile of green grasses with large carrots on top and when the whistle blew each elephant went straight for his or her pile. All that is except the baby who apparently did not have a pile. He wandered back in forth hoping to snatch some leftovers from his mother and the others without much luck. I'm not sure why the baby didn't get his own food but the zoo keepers know more about elephants than I do so I suppose he was being trained and it was all part of the pecking order. It was fun watching the giant beasts use their trunks to wrap up a bunch of grass and carrots and toss the pile into their open mouths. Each one would catch a bunch of food while the rest fell back to the ground. Then they would start scooping and try again. Each one that is except for a giant bull elephant, obviously the king of that group. He was big and looked mean and everytime the baby got near him he roared at him so loudly the baby would run off in terror. This giant beast took forever to scoop up his food, very carefully and precisely scooping around it from the right and then the left and from the front and the back until it was a manageable pile. Only then would he attempt to pick it up and drop it into his mouth and the amazing part was he never dropped one piece of grass nor one carrot. It was like watching a master, a gourmand who never spills a drop, and we were fascinated. This slow process went on for some time. When he finally finished, he strolled down to the gully right in front of us and began scooping up all of the food that had been dropped by the sloppier elephants and continued with his very neat and anal retentive pile making and eating. The baby was beginning to get quite frantic by this point and actually tried to eat some left over food right next to him but this was not to be allowed. Once again the giant turned and roared at him. Poor baby. I'm sure they must have fed him later when he was alone. But it made a great show for we inferior creatures.

The Budapest Zoo is in the middle of a very large and lovely park with a small castle and a lake and many flower gardens. It's a wonderful place on a fine day and it seemed that just about everyone who lives there was visiting that day. I wanted to just plop down on the grass and watch the kids chase the ducks but we had more touring to do later so this was one of those missed opportunities for doing nothing. However, the zoo was delightful and relaxing and ever so memorable. I highly recommend it whether you have kids or not. Animals are not necessarily attracted to children anyway. They just sense the child in all of us and if we show we are not afraid and want to make a connection, they always seem to respond in a positive way.

We had a great time also at the Vienna Zoo, which is at the Schonbrunn Palace, and has some very interesting exhibits including a room with the tiny marsupials called golden tamarinds. They were running all over the place on branches right over my head and were ever so cute. I could have reached up and touched one but didn't want to frighten them so I refrained. I was so taken by the golden tamarinds, which look like tiny monkeys with lion faces, that I failed at first to notice that I was surrounded by vampire bats, all sleeping upside down and very close and personal. When one of them yawned and spread his wings I nearly panicked an ran but I saw he was sleepy and he did go right back to sleep. That was really creepy though. But to make things worse was the next room we wandered into, the snake pit. I was looking into open top glass cages down at all kinds of very dangerous and poisonous snakes plus the terrifying killers like the cobra and the anaconda when John pointed out one right over my head hanging on a branch. At this I freaked. I do not like snakes and to find myself in a room full of them with no barriers was more than I could handle. I tried to leave but John insisted on showing off first so he petted the cobra and the anaconda before I ran. What a show off. So he is now the snake whisperer. The Vienna Zoo also has some very nice outdoor exhibits including the ever so cute red pandas hanging in trees close enough to almost reach them. If you've never seen a red panda, they are an adorable combination of a furry red fox with a panda face and they live in trees. Later I saw lots of these in Australia but this was my first time and they seemed very exotic.

The Alpenzoo in Innsbruck, Austria has an unusual setting as well as unusual animals. It's 3/4 of the way up  a mountain across the Inn River from the city. To get there you take a cable car up the mountain which I always enjoy. To get a cable car ride and visit a zoo all in one is a great treat for me. The zoo actually clings to the side of the mountain and is famed for its authentic alpine collection of animals, all local from the region. I thought this might be rather boring but it was not. There is quite a range of Alpine animals not to mention bears and Moose but I also got my first close up visit with wolves. These wolves had bright blue eyes and were on total alert. Everytime anyone would walk by, they'd stop and just stare as if assesing the danger and the nutrional value of the human in question. They were most particularly interested in children, which was kind of spooky. I had always heard that wolves got a bum rap and aren't hunters of humans but this bunch had me thinking twice.

There was a Moose who got very excited because he was calling his harem of females to him for a meeting of sorts and you could hear the guy yelling all the way across the zoo. There were also lots of little critters of interest but our favorite part of the zoo was the petting zoo. There is a very large barn yard filled with pigs and geese which were very entertaining. Here I must digress. John has a strange effect on most animals. They either love him or hate him and the ones that hate him are very aggressive about it. He's had more than one run-in with geese in the past. As soon as they see him coming they start gaggling and squawking and yelling at the tops of their lungs and then try to out walk him. It's really hilarious to watch as he tries to get closer and they continue to waddle away frantically squawking all the way. Before we discovered the petting zoo, I had to pay a visit to the WC. When I came out John was gone but it didn't take me long to find him because the geese were screaming at the tops of their lungs non-stop so I just followed the caterwalling. There was John petting the cutest little pig who was standing on his hind legs with front feet on the fence in order to reach John. This pig seemed to be in love with John and kept snorting in a haw haw haw haw sound with each pet. When John tried to leave and walk around the compound, the pig followed him around. After we tried to pass the geese, which were in such a state of frenzy by this point there was no settling them down, we reached the other side of the compound where the pig was once again waiting for John to pet him. He had brought a couple of friends with him too and John and I did our best to pet all three of them, each one haw haw hawing happily. Finally we had to leave because the zoo was closing and we still wanted to take the cable car on up to the top of the mountain where there are spectacular views of Innsbruck as well as some interesting rock formations and notes of historical interest. It was another great day at the zoo.

Animals enrich our lives just as every experience we have for good or bad. Just look at the Egyptian tombs with their cats carved into the walls and the many breeds of dogs the British in particular have created to be man's best friend and helpful servant. Europe, just like any other place, is not made simply of stone but also of blood and sweat and tragedy and war and it's about people and the animals they know. Next time you need a break from a museum, take a gandef at the local zoo. You won't regret it.

Cheers,