Zurich: Zoo and Zeppelin

---

Monday 18 May:



We all managed a bit of a sleep in and then headed into town to visit the zoo. It is highly rated and even on a Monday was quite busy. 26 francs entry for adults represented reasonably good value in an expensive city too.



The day started with a surprise when, as we left the hotel, a passenger zeppelin flew right overhead! We would have been less surprised to see Superman. Zachary wasn’t quite sure what to make of it! The zeppelin is celebrating Edelweiss Airline’s 20^th birthday and is flying in different parts of the country. We were very fortunate to see it as it is not flying in Zurich until May 21, but was evidently doing some test runs today. 45 minutes scenic flights are 200 francs ($300) which I reckon is well worth the money. Not surprisingly they sold out in no time! I didn’t manage to get a photo unfortunately as it took us by surprise and the camera wasn’t handy.



Back to the zoo: On the whole we were quite impressed. For me, two things really stood out. The exhibition just inside the entrance featuring reptiles, insects, amphibians, as well as some birds and monkeys was excellent. It went underground and had several wings. We were in there for a considerable time. We particularly liked the anaconda which really is a superb creature.



The other standout is the elephant area which is undergoing further development. They have five elephants, including a baby (11 months old). Their area is really superb. They have ample room to run outdoors, plenty of varied terrain and water, and a really nice indoor area too. The indoor area is cool because you can sit and have a rest or a snack while an elephant is doing its thing only metres away.



Other parts of the zoo were variable in their quality. It is good to see that they are developing an African savannah area and they will get giraffes for this as well as move other compatible animals in, much like Auckland. But on the whole it is certainly above average. Overall, not quite as good as Auckland, which I maintain is one of the best there is, but they do have a wider variety of animals which, as NZers, we don’t get to see.



After that we headed back into town and sat by the beautiful lake. As luck would have it the zeppelin flew over again while we were walking down the main road towards the lake. I couldn’t get a decent shot because of tram cables etc but when we got to the lake I managed to zoom in to get a decent one and then it thoughtfully turned so I got an even better one.



We didn’t really see much of the city of Zurich though. After the lake we got a train back to the airport (discovering basically an entire city under the main railway station when we used the underpass) where we knew there was a good foodcourt and large supermarket. Heather got a large dish of chicken fried rice. I got a large fish fillet with potatoes (which I have been hanging out for) and veges and Zachary took bits off both plates. 32 francs ($48) for that, while still expensive in NZ terms, was considerably better value than Burger King. We managed to do some shopping for the next few days at almost sensible prices and that was that. Back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. We’ll aim to take the 10:13 train tomorrow to get us to Our Chalet in Adelboden at about 1. Time to go sort out those thermals and woolly hats!

---