To The Zoo

It was cloudy this morning and we went to the Zoo. The trip was very easy: we took trolleybus #6 from Victory Square. It was new and comfortable with an easy platform to get on with a stroller and digital display showing upcoming stops.

The Zoo is very impressive. It was spread over a pretty large territory and most animals with the exception of large cats and bears have large and comfortable homes. There are many other places that no one really thinks of including in a Zoo but they make it a more enjoable: picnic areas, walking trails in the woods, and of course the usual fare of kiosks, food huts, and even a cart selling flavored nuts complete with a "nuts nun" dressed like the rest of them in the old town. 

Maps inside are not very helpful so we just wandered around running for the cover of tall trees when it started to drizzle every now and then. Yesterday we set out on our long walk to the beach with just a bottle of milk and unfortunately did not encounter any eateries on the way to feed the carb-hungry kids. Today we were all set in that department but did not bring any raingear other than a stroller cover. But it was only a drizzle.

The zoo has impressive collection of the different types of sheep/deer. One of the enclosures had the sign "please do not disturb, very old animal" on it. I've asked a young girl who was cleaning out the enclosure how old the animal was. She said, "maybe 4." I've asked how long do they live. She shrugged: "I am not a zoologist, how am I supposed to know." I guess either she gets asked this question a lot or she is probably not going to progress much in her line of work. 

Elephant house the best I've ever seen - there is a very large enclosure with a pool and a waterfall. You can look at the elephants from a raised, covered viewing platform that can be reached by an elevator.

We really enjoyed the hippo area. Just as we approached, this little hippo came up to the fence and opened its mouth wide. One of the onlookers put a sandwich in it. The animal seemed to have swallowed it without chewing and opened the mouth wide once again.

There was a little building that had a picture of a coffee cup on the window. We could see a table with chairs next to it. Dan sent me inside for a cup of coffee. Inside was a terrarium accompanied by a bit of characteristic smell. But they did not lie about the coffee: there was also a coffee machine next to the table and chairs that we could not see from the outside. Amazing! If you wanted to enjoy your hot cup of coffee in a company of snakes and lizards how many places in the world would give you the opportunity to do so!

 When we were back in the old town we passed a bunch of executioners inviting people to visit the museum of torture. The same one as the one in Vilnis last year. On account of the rain they were wearing rain ponchos. We thought that it would look really interesting in a Renaissance type of movie if executioners and the crowd, and even a convict were to wear one of those.

 After the zoo we went to a little coffee shop near Lido and had some coffee with chocolate cake. It was OK. We relaxed at home in the afternoon with kids taking the turns dancing to the sound of the Black Eyed Peas that was playing on MTV. In the evening we went out again. Checked out McCafe. It is more bitter than what comes out of the Coffee In (just one “n” in Estonia, which is a bit counterintuitive). But it is pretty good in terms of the taste, size and cost. And presentation is not too shabby either.

Here is a forward-looking statement from Estonian history. We went down the passage from the old town square. There were some stone markings depicting the key dates. It was pretty informative and interesting. Imagine some aliens finding these stone tablets way forward when in the future.