 |
| Can you imagine all in bloom? |
 |
| Add caption |
It was a school holiday today, the sun was shining, so I thought it would be
fun to take the two "bouncing off the wall" children to 'Wilhelma Zoological and Botanical gardens'. I have to admit, I was also excited to see this Stuttgart attraction because of its history. It is Europe's largest combined Zoo and Botanical gardens. It was originally planned as the private gardens to serve King Wilhelm I.
(BOY, I bet ole' King W's legs didn't feel like mine do tonight when he was "walking" thru these gardens!!!)
I can hardly move!.... Until tonight, I thought I had become an expert at
walking since I now spend so much of everyday as my major mode of transportation. And, I
KNEW I was an expert at visiting zoos with our two children..... that is until today. Karina and Cooper have loved the zoo since they were babies. Santa stuffed our stocking with an annual membership to the Birmingham Zoo, we spent a
day at the Washington National Zoo ), and in November, we visited the NC Zoo with Pappa and Nanna, before moving to Germany. Most of my family and friends know that an invitation to join the
Hoff Family at the zoo includes wearing your running shoes and stopping for quick "breathers" to intently study the zoo map to be sure we haven't missed anything the last mile. We didn't want a re-play of our visit to the National Zoo- meltdown- once we returned to my niece's house, they began studying the Zoo map only to realize that we had missed ONE animal. So, you can only imagine my excitement when we paid for our tickets and WERE NOT handed a map (not many paper 'hand-outs' here since they make trash-refer to earlier posts on "TRASH") This excitement quickly vanished when I saw them (a block ahead of me) 'slam on breaks'. OH-NO, was that a huge map of the zoo they were studying?
Little did I know or fail to translate correctly (until after our visit) that the Wilhelma, here in Stuttgart, has over 9,000 animals, not to mention about 5,000 plants, and is 70 acres--AND LET ME TELL YOU, WE COVERED IT ALL!!! I am
almost certain we didn't miss a single bug, fish, plant, waterfall, bird, snake, animal, playground, or ice cream vendor....not to mention we had to walk back to the subway and back home once we got off the train. So, instead of writing any more tonight ( because my head is about to hit the computer keyboard the same way Cooper's sleeping head hit the subway window on the ride home) I am including both a high number of pictures and the Zoo's website.
http://www.wilhelma.de/nc/en/home.html
 |
| And so we begin..... |
 |
| Beautiful Peacocks were everywhere |
 |
| I couldn't read the German signs about each animal's info-but Cooper loved this Ugly Fish! |
 |
| Same ropes on all the kid's playgrounds... |
 |
| He continued to watch Cooper-next thing I know, Cooper had gone up under the rope to say "hi" |
 |
| The kid's thought it was gross when I said, "look it is just like me and daddy" |
 |
| Is this sign REALLY necessary??!??!?!? |
|
 |
| A closer look-nope. I want cross the barrier! |
 |
| One of the MANY Botanical areas... |
 |
| It was actually prettier in person! |
 |
| Mom, Is that croc real? Um-yes, we are at the zoo.... |
 |
| Just to give you an example of the Various "Bug" exhibits |
 |
| It just wouldn't be a day in Germany without finishing the day on a playground! |
Wow! That place is going to be beautiful when the blooms start opening! Hopefully, the kiddos will be so exhausted they will sleep in for you tomorrow! :)
ReplyDelete