Berlin Part II--The Zoo

We spent one of our days in Berlin visiting their fabulous zoo.  I grew up in San Diego and my wonderful Aunt Cheryl bought us passes to the zoo every year.  We went often and I loved it.  The San Diego Zoo is amazing, but I can honestly say that our visit to the Berlin Zoo was by far the best experience we have ever had at a zoo.

It was raining quite a bit the day we went, but there were plenty of exhibits in the buildings so we could still enjoy the animals and find shelter from the rain.  Our favorite was the Big Cats exhibit.  It is similar to most zoos, where the exhibits outside are like their natural habitats, but they also have exhibits inside where you can see the animals much closer.

I've always known lions were massive, but it was incredible seeing one this close.  Their roar is so deep and loud you can feel vibrations in your chest.  At one point there were two female lions and two male lions in the internal exhibit.  One of the male lions started to roar and then the others began.  They were communicating with each other, then all of a sudden they all laid down to rest.  It was incredible.

There were two cute baby lions also.  It was fun to see them play together.  I couldn't figure out how to turn the flash off so it is difficult to see it, but I thought I'd post the picture anyway.  I finally remembered how to turn off my flash, but when we went back, they were no longer on exhibit.

We also were able to see the feeding of two panthers and a cheetah.  They tossed in some meat and they were fighting over it.  I guess you can see from the picture above who won.  The other two only got a small bit.

There were a few tigers when we went back the second time.  Tigers are one of my favorite animals.  This one looked like it was about to fall asleep.  It was just sitting there staring and occasionally it would close it's eyes.

They had a really fun primate exhibit that we visited as well.  Again, I hadn't figured out the flash so this shot was really dark.  I lightened it with Photoshop so it's grainy, but I couldn't pass up posting this cute little orangutan.

This little gorilla was hilarious.  It's kind of hard to tell, but that is his bum.  He mooned us!

Of course the kids had to take pictures with all of the statues.  Alyssa was helping this orangutan out by picking his nose.  I guess she supposed that she has such skill at picking her own, she should offer her services.

Alyssa was at the back of the hippo saying, "Look, there's a tail!"

Here is the family crossing a bridge at the zoo that goes over the river.  Of course, Alyssa didn't want to stop for the photo, and Devon is making the obligatory silly face.  

Jonathan insisted that I posted this fountain photo.  It is pretty funny with the little tail and turtle hat.  I didn't want to take a picture either, but I did, again at Jonathan's insistence.  I apologize if it offends anyone.  It was in plain sight at the zoo.

We saw these signs at the zoo and had to take pictures.  Los Angeles Zoo 9684 km.

There was a little playground at the zoo as well.  The kids had tons of fun on the tire swings, and there was a fun tree-house-like play set they could run through and climb on.

It was a fantastic day at the zoo, despite the rain.  We spent the entire day there, and the kids even wanted to go back the next day.

Our home internet is finally up!  I'll post more of our Berlin trip later this week.