It's All Hapening at the Zoo

Since the weather this week has been pretty mercurial, we put off our decision for what to do this Saturday until the morning-of, so's to have the most up-to-date hourly weather report.  That's right, Tri-City folk, they have weather here--not just "sunny" or "partly cloudy with a chance of 2 inches of rainfall a year".  A beautiful morning here can very rapidly turn into a thunderstorm and vice versa.  So, seeing we were in for a gorgeous morning with some thunderstorms hitting in the late afternoon, we took our friends, The Walsh's, up on an invitation to the zoo at Schonbrunn Palace.

Now, a few important things to know about this zoo is that not only is it Europe's oldest zoo, but it is situated on a portion of the property at Schonbrunn Palace--let me emphasize PORTION.  I could live in Schonbrunn and walk it's paths and gardens and halls for a year and probably still have more to discover. Am I emphasizing it's grand stature enough yet? Vienna may be home to many majestic, enormous monstrosities, but Schonbrunn, hands-down, takes the cake.

I'm prefacing this all so you'll understand why I wouldn't consider our trip to the zoo remotely all-encompassing and even though I saw the palace and walked through some of it's gardens, I, by no means, am competent to describe them accurately to you.

Never you worry--Schonbrunn begs for hours of time spent discovering its every nook and cranny...if only we could get past the children's play areas.

I want to be able to sleep like that!

Here, cheetah, cheetah!

We met Steve, Meg and their girls around noon, but we got to the zoo early enough to purchase our year passes first and to sneak a peak at the koalas snoozing in their trees before meeting up.  Koalas are one of my favorites and Audrey's too; she was so excited when she realized what that furry creature rolled up in a snuggly ball was...but honestly, nothing compares to how happy she is to see her new little friends, Sarah and Bridget.  These four girls are so well suited as play mates; from the moment they laid eyes on each other, they were out of their strollers, laughing, running, chasing each other and following whoever was the momentary ring leader to the giraffes, the flamingos, the deer...Bailey even made friends with a cheetah.  They gave the monkeys a run for their money and yelled at the rest of the sleeping big cats before it was declared lunch time.  And you know what I do feel qualified to describe in detail? The excellent level of service we received...in a beer garden...at the Schonbrunn zoo.  It was unreal.

The master face-maker and her Papa, dining al fresco

Coach B: Living the drea

We ate in a small courtyard surrounded by flowering trees, sitting under giant yellow umbrellas, and still, when the wind blew, tiny white flowers would float down around us.  The girls all had schnitzel and apple juice with extra long straws.  We had beer and wine, schnitzel and potato pancakes and plenty of good conversation.  Our waiter offered the best service I've had so far and I was comfortable enough to ask him some questions that have been lingering in my mind about Austrian restaurant protocol and etiquette. We left with happy bellies and followed our kids wherever they wandered; to the elephants, to pick fluffy dandelions and collect pine cones.  In between, we stopped for coffee and ice cream and eventually headed to the seal enclosure to watch their feeding.

These two are out looking for lions

The viewing area was packed--and for a reason.  The show they put on wouldn't rival any at Shed Aquarium, but what it lacked in pizazz, it more than made up for in audience enthusiasm.  One seal in particular,unsurprisingly, the fattest one, would leap from the highest ledge of rocks to catch a fish in his mouth before splashing into the water and drenching the nearest viewers below.  We had been warned beforehand and thought we were out of the splash zone, but Bailey and I got hosed when the zoo keeper unexpectedly lobbed a fish in our direction.  B loved it, but Audrey, who caught a surprise splash right in the kisser, suddenly decided that perhaps she didn't like seals so much after all.

 All of the excitement of the morning seemed to crash down on Bailey after that. I pushed her sad, crying self up an impressive hill (on a bark path, no less) past the wolves and an incredibly cute replica of an alpine farm, trying to get her to fall asleep. Eventually, after lots of screaming and "Me back hurting!", sleep won out.  Since it was obviously getting late and those forecasted storm clouds were beginning to roll in, we headed out the zoo exit near The Glorietta  (a seemingly ornamental crowning glory for the main park at Schonbrunn).  As we realized how far our U-Bahn station was in relation to the looming clouds (which are incidentally not pictured below, but right behind us), Megan and I decided to book it down the hill, mostly being dragged by the inertia of our strollers, and ended up cooling our heels, waiting for Steve, John and Audrey, who had the good sense to discover that the wind was now blowing those dismal clouds away from us.

The Glorietta, as seen briefly while trying to decipher exactly how far away we were from public transit

 As it was, we made it all the way home without encountering a drop of rain.  Instead, we whiled away the evening, listening to the rain pitter pattering out our open windows.  It might take me a while to adapt to this whole changing weather thing again, but our day couldn't have gone better.  It seems I am unable to let a day pass without being overwhelmed by how blessed we are.