Day 6

Wow, I did what I said! I visited the zoo today, on my own, alone!

I took down certain pointers for myself on a piece of paper, crumbled a 20 CHF (Swiss Francs) note and few coins in my pocket and set out for the day. The tram station is just in front of our building entrance. You have to purchase a ticket prior to getting on the tram. So, I went to the Ticket Vending Machine. Thankfully, they had English as an optional language. So, there were three options, short distance, Zone A, and Zone A/B. Now you might make out that these were according to the distances from the stop. But, I wasn't sure whether my stop would be counted in short distance or Zone A. Following some guidelines I read on the internet, I greeted a lady who was sitting by, in the local dialect and asked whether she spoke English. She was delighted to help me out of the doubt. Zone A it was! A full 3 CHF!! (A CHF is roughly translated into 50 Rs.)

I had to get on to Tram no. 2. The indicator clearly maintained a list of trams that are expected to arrive and the time remaining for the arrival. Like the western railway.

The ride was fun. Imagine sitting on a train and riding on the roads. I was surprised to see that at some places, the tracks of the tram went through grass, and more surprising was, the grass remained intact!

A bit conscious of the stops that past by, I got off at Zoo Dorenbach, which was right across the south entrance of the zoo. I got a free entry inside with the coupon that Anumama had given me. The regular ticket for a young person (16-25 yrs) was 12 CHF (600 Rs.!!) Sad, that I will have to spend as much the next time I'm planning to go there, which will be in a few days. Reason?? My batteries dies down this time around!! And this place is really worth seeing! And I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't capture everything I found worth clicking, which would include about 600 types of animals (amphibians, reptiles, mammals, insects, and what not). I don't remember a specie which I did not see here, except probably dogs and cats. Every living thing under the sun was here.

There was a monkey section which had a wide variety of monkeys. At least 10! And not just distinguished by color, but by size, by habitat, by breed... you'll see when you get to see the photos! And then there were snakes, alligators, spiders, zebras, elephants, ostriches, frogs, ducks, hippos, rhinos, and...

There was a large aquarium, where I saw one of the world's craziest creations. The fishes with glowing eyes won over everything. The tank was fully covered with a case and a few eye holes were provided to see inside. And was it great!! The second prize went to the jellyfishes which were a visual treat. The people arriving at this stop were quite literally mesmerized by the glow and the flow. I managed to grab a few clicks in spite of my marela battery, I just couldn't miss this!! And my faithful batteries did support me with their last few breaths!

Then there was this large hall, where there were two consecutive entries. After getting past both of them, I thought I was transported to some secluded part of the Amazon. The atmosphere depicted a swamp. And rare beautiful birds flew over my head. Some rested on the ground just feet away from me. Some made melodious noises. Some swam in a near by puddle. Some were perched on trees in groups. Wow!! Even reminiscing about it is so peaceful and heavenly.

There were times I got transported to the Disneyland. Some people would understand when I say, I saw Marty, Alex, Melman, Gloria, Skipper, Private, Kowalski, Mason, Nemo, Dora, Sid, Diego, Manny, Koda, Kenai, Oscar, and manny manny more!!

Yea, I know I'm sounding too stupid and too childish, but I was truly over whelmed!! And the child within me just couldn't stay quiet!!

After my random walk around the zoo, much of which was still to be seen, I found the restaurant. I got myself an ice cream and a sandwich - 8.20 CHF (410 Rs.). The sandwich tasted funny, so I packed it back and unwrapped the ice cream. Ice creams can never be bad!! And so I had my lunch with the ostriches (who were right across the bench that I sat on)

I completed the stroll with some other animals, which included many types of deers, bears, more monkeys, horses, goats, donkeys even!! And finally found my exit (ausgang as they call it in German). I got out somewhere, and followed the wall of the zoo back to the entrance where I got in... because that was where I had to board my return tram.

My legs were aching and I was thirsty. I called up Ania to ask her to open the door (They have the entrance to the buildings locked from inside). Don't know what went wrong, the door didn't open! So, I just stood observing people around me... and while I was doing this, I noticed a very junglee human being who was carrying a couple of bags and swaying them here and there as he walked. I realized it was my mama gesturing me to come and hold the bags. So, thankfully, I could go up now.

Today is Wiktor's one month birthday. So we had some sinful pastries!!

Spagetti is the second dish I learnt making here, Pizza being the first which I learnt on Day 2. Mama is kanjoos about cheese, but being in the land of dairy farms and healthy cows, how can I not take a second helping?

Planning to visit a museum tomorrow. There is some Van Gogh Vincent Exhibition around and I have a free pass.

I realize that today's entry is a wee bit too long, but the zoo was really amazing!! Please bear with it, I promise to writer shorter entries hence forth!