Schönbrunn Castle Train and Zoo

Yes folks, I finally looked up how to type an umlaut, the dots above the "o" and other letters in German, about time!

We went with Peter to the Zoo, called a Tiergarten, here in Vienna, it is the oldest zoo in the world. www.zoovienna.at  He hadn't been in a zoo since he was about five years old so he was delighted and we wanted to treat him for all the wonderful things he's done for us. 

First off we took the mini-train around the Schönbrunn grounds and marvelled that we had walked pretty much the whole way a few years ago! Train is easier and better I can tell you. 

Carriage Museum

The woman portrait on the right door is of Empress Elizabeth, called Sisi, read about here here http://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/sights/imperial/sisi-museum She was one interesting woman and certainly did what she wanted, when she wanted, no matter what the Society norms were. 

We didn't go into the Carriage Museum, we were there to see the animals!

This is Peter, our wonderful host!

The cloudy liquid in the wine glass is sturm. It is a strong, slightly sweet wine that is brewed to be drunk very young and only available now until December. More about it here http://www.kcblau.com/sturm/ Since it is still fermenting it needs to be stored carefully so it doesn't blow up - really!

Leopards, the two snuggling, one is licking the face of the other.

On to the animals, we saw probably about half available and still walked a ways.

Elephants one had a large tusk and there was a baby one too!

I didn't catch what kind of bird this is but it was pretty!

Note the very long curved bill on these ones.

A banana tree, lovely.

Orangutang's just hanging about.

Timber wolf puppy we didn't see, did see the adult wolves but they were too far away for a picture. I don't know where this picture came from to cite it, perhaps the zoo.

And now for something completely different. I've never seen this kind of lock on a bicycle before and thought it practical, this wasn't at the zoo.

We had a wonderful day at the zoo and one could go back day after day to walk through different parts of it to see different animals each time. We concentrated on what Peter really wanted to see since it was "his" day. 

Peter sent us this picture of a swimming place called Gänsehäufel in Vienna, classic don't you think?

The taxi cab driver going back to the flat was an expert on driving in Vienna, probably had been driving for many years, he took all the back routes and we wound our way through the City, truly amazing! 

If you like zoos, and I know some who don't, but if you do, Vienna has one of the best we've been to and would recommend a visit. No, they are not sponsoring me to say that, just my opinion.

Next post will be coming to you from Freiburg.

Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat