Day 15 - Munich Zoo

  Today was our last full day in Germany!  We have had a great time here but we are all ready to go home.  The longer I’m away the more I miss America.  Not just my home and family but my country and my culture.  At first Germany doesn't seem that different but the little things are starting to get to me.  The boys miss home too.  We've been talking about all the people they want to see and the other day Will told me about all the food he wants when we get back to America.

  But I should get back to today.  We had a couple of hours to kill before we could check into our hotel so we decided to go to the Munich zoo.  My first impression was not great.  The first few exhibits were practically empty and very Spartan.  And then we hit the ape house.  At the Gorilla exhibit Will and Jon ended up sitting very close to a large Silverback Gorilla.  The Silverback ignored everyone except for a little 18 month old girl that he was fascinated by.  The other Gorilla’s were moving around too and they were fun to watch.

Will sits by a Silverback Gorilla

Will copies the statue

Jon plays with the Gorilla statue

lunch time!

    We saw some other active primates as well.  James and Jon were looking at the mandrills when one ran up to Jon and started scratching the glass trying to get at him.  Jon backed away at first but when he walked back to the glass the mandrill tried to attack again.  Thank goodness for strong glass!

Mean Mandrill

Will points out a ring tailed lemur.

  

  Then we came to the Orangutans.  I have never seen such active animals in any zoo!  It was incredible!  They were swinging and tumbling and clowning around all over their enclosure.  Will and Jon could not stop laughing.  The biggest Orangutan was a huge male named Bruno and he would slowly walk around in a big circle while one of two smaller apes rolled around and played in front of him.  We have some great video that I will hopefully be able to post soon.  We watched them for over half an hour, laughing the entire time.

Bruno

Bruno watches a younger Orangutan

Orangutan family

   After that, the other exhibits that we saw were pretty cool.  We had spent so much time in the ape house that we didn't have time to see the whole zoo but we did make sure to stop by and see the bats before we left.  Will loves bats so he was very excited.  I was expecting to see them behind glass but when we walked into the darkened room the little fruit bats were swooping around above our heads.  They came so close to us that I could feel wind in my hair as they flew by.  Jon was a little nervous at first but Will was in heaven.  

Alligator or Crocodile?  I couldn't read the German.

Smile, smile crocodile

Jon's picture of the Flamingos

Will makes a new friend

The aquarium

Fun with a stone lion

   
  After a rest in our hotel (and a bath for the boys) we went to downtown Munich for dinner at the Hofbrauhaus.  There was a hometown soccer game that night so the streets and the restaurant were very crowded.  It was very late by the time we got our meal but the food was delicious.  The Hofbrauhaus is James' favorite place to eat in Munich and his family has been going there for years so I was glad we could show it to the boys.  It was a great way to end our last day in Germany.

Tomorrow we come home!!

Auf Wiedersehen!