It is a rather mixed weather today with occassional showers in between hours, but we are determined to not let the weather spoil out day/plan. I have promised the boys, especially Naaman that we will be going to the Zoo and he is super excited about it. In fact, he kept reminding me (borderline nagging) on when we will be heading to the zoo. A promise's a promise and I don't intend to break my promise, not to my son where possible.
The Tiergarten Schonbrunn or Vienna Zoo is the oldest zoo in the world. It was originally an imperial menagerie which was built in the 1752. The zoo is situated within the Schonbrunn Palace itself. You can either take the train from the palace or you could go straight to the entrance at the second train station where the Lindt Cafe is and walk to the zoo. You will see the Palm House which houses tropical botanics and plants here and the entrance is chargeable. I'd say skip it and save the money for better spending elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, it is not that the building is not impressive, it is! I mean, I came from a tropical country and Singapore has a beautiful Botanical Gardens which I visited from time to time so it will be quick a hard task to get a good review from me. The building makes for a good photo though, so take a snap and move on to the Zoo.
The admission ticket can be bought online or you could buy it at the zoo entrance. I bought my tickets at the entrance and it costs €18.50 for adults and kids below 6 years old enter for free! It rained immediately after we entered the zoo (zzzz!) so we made a bee line to the first shelter we can find and it happens to be a cafe. I remembered nothing of what the entrance looked like because of this. Anywho, there are a few things that I am pretty impressed by the Schonbrunn Zoo viz. 1) They have an awesome ant display! The have a comprehensive network of ant trails built with glass tubes which allows visitors to see how they work, where they keep their leaves, the nursery etc.; 2) The jellyfish display is one of the best I have ever seen! The tank is embeded in a space boxed with mirrors from all angles, how cool is that?; 3) There is an underground nest/hatchery for tortoises and you can view them via a long tube installed by the zoo; 4) There are plenty of playgrounds within the Zoo and we visited two of them. One is a playground that teaches the children on how power can be generated by water, while the other is a playground that I remember as a kid where the facilities and nature/dirt are combined into one; and 5) The design of the Zoo/Menagerie with the imperial breakfast pavillion smacked right in the centre. It is absolutely beautiful! Eat lunch here if possible.
Some photos of the day are shown below.
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