PC informs me that it is Europe's second oldest zoo, and it reflects its vintage, from the iron cages of the leopards and panthers' homes, to the cramped enclosures of the birds and monkeys. But then again, we are a bit of a zoo-snobs. Like many families with young children in Singapore, we were Friends of the Zoo and spent many a weekends in the slick and modern zoo in Singapore with its wide outdoor enclosures, English signs, and animal shows. (There is nowhere else to go in Singapore, you see)
This is what I mean. There's an antique colonial feel to the place, and makes me feel like I'm in some secret forgotten lab of a mad, hermit scientist.
When we got in, YL handed me the map of the place. I opened it up, looked at it, and a clear panic quickly descended upon me, "What kind of &*%#@ bizarre animals roam in France?!!?"
After 3 seconds, it dawned on me that the labels are in French, and I blurted out an exasperated & amused, "I have no idea what animals these are!"
Goral? Nandou? Dromadaire? Renard? Aras?* I am still working on "I bought a loaf of bread yesterday" in my French lessons...
I don't care what the map says, they are flamingos, damnit!
We brought our own lunch and not finding a table to indulge in our picnic, we solved the problem by laying out our picnic mat on a side of the visit route, and started to dig into our sandwiches, noodles, cherries and strawberries. I'm sure the French were horrified to see such slovenly, disgraceful behaviour.
The boys were shy at the beginning, but began strategizing their shenagigan together soon after arriving at the park.
High five! Did you see your dad sprint after us? And your mom ran and panted and then ran and panted 'round and 'round that enclosure!
He's a sneaky one.
Out of steam at the end of the afternoon
After we got home, our exemplary unfit bodies deflated from our short day out, YL asked me again his daily question: What do you want for dinner? And I, perhaps inspired by PC's observation that the animals are very healthy eaters, suddenly declared, "lui cha!" (thunder rice, a traditional Hakka dish) He then messed around the kitchen, and emerged one and a half hours later, sweaty and shirtless, with thunder rice. Is there anything he can't do? :D Happy Father's Day!
* goat, rhea, camel, fox, macaws
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