Blijdorp: A Day at the Zoo {Part 1}

Lars surprised us with a trip to the zoo on Sunday.  It was nearly our 1 month anniversary and my loving husband made it special for us.  I'm so grateful that I have such a thoughtful, caring man in my life.

Before we left

So we rode the subway to the Blijdorp stop and we both felt that the zoo would be nearby.  Instead we walked a little ways to get to the entrance.  It was unique.  In the center of town and surrounded by cars and buildings...not what I was used to when it comes to the word 'zoo'.

The entrance that we went through...apparently there are 2.

First thing inside the gate was an open courtyard type space with a pond full of flamingos and I immediately thought of Adiel and got a few shots just for her.

Lars saw a sign that told us there would be a penguin feeding in about an hour and we both love penguins so we knew that we would make our way in that direction...we went the wrong way for a while...but that's ok.  I forgive him.
Our first sight was the Asia section.

We saw a lot of birds in this area...

 We saw a dragon...

 

Cute little noisy otter :)  He moved over to the grass but when a bunch of kids came up he ran over to the rock and started calling to them.  He knew where the food comes from :)

We went through a building to make our way to the penguins...ended up just taking us back to the front...but this was a really pretty space with really neat skylights.

After running the entire length of the zoo we finally found the penguins and made it just in time for the feeding. 

The freshwater walk-through. 

The saltwater walk-through.  This one kinda freaked me out.  The first time we went through it I practically ran.

This is where I almost got eaten be a shark.  Not sure why I'm holding its jaw in what looks like a caring caress.

 And now begins my Blijdorp fashion show...

And here is where I begged for an adorable penguin wearing a tiny t-shirt...it didn't work, by the way.

 Then we stopped for lunch...

My goober.

I'll stop here for now...I have more from the zoo but it has a video and I don't want to over-do this post.  My journey here is almost at an end so I'll drag out the posts for a few more days.  I also realized that I didn't post about the pancake boat or the Euromast and I will do that tomorrow.