The Zoologischer Garten

Today we went to the Berlin Zoo. I guess I'm not really sure what we were expecting but it wasn't what we found.

The main difference between the Berlin zoo and every other zoo I've ever seen in my life is that the animals here are responsible enough to stay in their cages on the honor system. I'm serious. I forcibly stopped myself from grabbing a "Jackass Penguin" and stuffing it in my backpack for later examination. Despite how CUTE they were.

Another facet of the zoo that really stood out for us was the diversity and number of very obscure Asian and African animals there. Both JD and I have degrees in Zoology and have lived in Africa and we had never even heard of half of the animals there. I present for example:

1) The South African Fur Seal - Yes, your basic seal, but its distribution is, like, one rock in South Africa
2) The Jackass Penguin - So Cute.
3) Sri Lankan Sloth Bear - What the hell is this thing?
4) Pygmy Hippo
5) Some apparent cross between a Muskrat and a Feline that we cant remember the name of.
6) African Blue Billed Duck - Cutest duck ever.
7) Indian Rhinoceros - The german name translates as "Horned Tank"
8) Black Rhino - We've heard of them, but what zoo actually HAS one?

Lastly, the Zoo puts as much time, money, and effort into the architecture of its large animal habitats as it does into the animals themselves. So you have the Gemsbok (antelope) living in what appears to be a large spanish villa. The giraffe live in Aladdins castle. The hippos are lucky enough to get the Epcot center. Pictures will follow later when i find a public computer with a freaking USB port.

Tomorrow: The Fan Mile for the Germany v. Argentina game. A dream come true. :)

East Berlin, The Wall, Interweb@DunkinDonuts

Day 1) We have landed in Berlin! Although technically "crashed" may be a more accurate word. After 15 hours of flights and the 9 hour time change we arrived in Germany with no sleep at 10am local time. Very very sleepy Henry...


Day 2) We definitively determined that the 2001 Lonely Planet "Europe on a Shoestring" sucks. Despite our travel guide we found what remains of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and took an improv bus tour through old East Berlin. JD describes it as "shockingly undilapidated". I myself was a little dissapointed at the lack of Soviet checkpoints and scattered communist corpses. But I suppose we are 20 years or so too late.

All of the DunkinDonutses (it wants our donutses...my precious...) here are internet cafes. Brilliant!

So now, post nap and coffee, we are off to the famous "Reichstag Nude Swimming Techno Club"

More to come later.

Jordanna constantly complains to me that I take demeaning pictures of her with strange things on her head. This is clearly not my fault. If I pick up a camera and ask her to put something stupid on her head she complies. Point in fact, this picture.

The countdown continues as we pack and get ready to go on European Tour. We leave for Berlin on the 26th and come back from Rome on the 12th, only to jump in our vehicles and drive to Tucson on the 14th. Oh yeah.

In the reorganization and madness of packing Roland (our dog) got into some of our more obscure memorabilia and partially devoured the skin of the Gabon Viper pictured above. Comforting to know that should a snake find its way into our home and expire of natural causes our dog will earn its keep by defiling the corpse.