Yesterday (Monday) Nic went into the office and I got the kids off the the Amiens Zoo. It is a solid 20 minute walk west of the city center as I discovered yesterday. Along the way we saw this small demonstration. I was guessing that it had to do with World War II as we are close to the D Day anniversary but I am not sure. We stopped for a bit, but then we marched on. We were at the zoo before 11AM and the kids walked the whole way. I think I said before that you could easily miss the entrance to the zoo if you didn't know what you were looking for.
When we were approaching the zoo we noticed the hoards of school children entering the zoo. I gave a silent "ugh". It looked like field trip day. Here are the kids waiting in line. Luckily there there were some fun Gibbons at the entrance providing entertainment. We didn't wait that long in line and it cost us 7 euro (about $10) for all of us to get in. Gwyneth started spending her French allowance right away on the souvenir coin they were selling. So it looks like we will be continuing the Norway collection. Once we were in the zoo it was quite charming to walk around and even though it was a smallish zoo we hardly ran into the school groups walking around.
This was the cutest thing we saw all day .... I wish I knew what this bird was. The zoo was small, but it was really pleasant to walk around. You were able to get quite close to the animals. It had a lot of water birds/birds that I have never seen before. They had a few elephants and zebras not too many other large animals. The elephant was Ethan's favorite and Gwyneth liked the monkeys by the entrance. The map indicated that they were working on a giraffe and tiger habitat. So I guess we'll have to see that on the next sabbatical.
The zoo also had a large collection of Tamarins (small monkeys), many kinds that I hadn't seen before. I enjoyed the one "avec les mains rouges" or "with the red hands". You can see them (the hands) in the photo. The kids enjoyed reading the map which was in french and trying to figure out what animal we were going to see. Usually we were wrong. Guess I didn't learn too many zoo animal names in French class. Luckily we had brought a picnic as there was not much in way of food that was available for purchase (except for some vending machines). We made use of the toilets too and they were surprisingly clean.
After the zoo we walked over to the nearby playground that I had spotted the day before. Along the way we stopped to feed the swans and ducks in the rather large pool/pond out front. We had 2 pieces of bread left from lunch that Ethan didn't want. Here he is deciding that he wants to eat it now rather than feed it to the ducks. The swans were actually rather nasty ... pecking at much smaller little ducklings when they got a piece of bread. I didn't let Ethan get too close to them with his piece of bread.
The playground had one of these crazy rope structure things. When we first arrived it was loaded with the school kids from the zoo. I got to have some conversations (in French) with the school kids about why I spoke English. The conversation didn't go much past the fact that I lived in "Les Etats Unis". It always ended with "pourquoi?" on their end. Eventually/thankfully the kids left and Gwyneth and Ethan got to climb around on their own. Ethan never climbed higher than my arms reach and I am not sure that he wanted to. So that is a good sign. Not too soon after this photo it started to sprinkle rain, not too hard luckily, and so we left for home. Not before Ethan insisted on going down the now wet slide one more time of course. I then had the pleasure of carrying him and his wet bottom for the 20 minute walk home. He stayed awake however.
Once home Gwyneth did some math homework and I successfully got Ethan down for a nap by reading him some books. Guess he must have been tired! Nic came home around 6PM with some provisions from the grocery store. This included a box wine "Les Ormes de Cambras". (Ormes means Elm in French). Nic liked the wine and I thought it was just okay. I then headed out for the store to get a few more things as Nic mostly came home with (heavy) beverages. I have been enjoying perusing the cheese and the snack aisles in the grocery store. I got home closer to 7PM and a heavier rain, but not too bad. We then had an artichoke from the farmers market with some burgers and potatoes. Oh, and of course every meal must include french bread, cheese, and wine. Somewhere in the middle of dinner Ethan woke up and requested his cow cheese "La vache qui rit" or "Laughing Cow" to you and me. At my latest shopping trip I discovered the Carrefour brand of the Laughing Cow cheese (for about 1/3 the price) so we'll see if I can slip that one by Ethan.
After cleaning up from dinner we all settled in for a movie - "The Tale of Despereaux" - which we have on Itunes. The kids have seen it several times already but this was the first time for me. I found it a bit strange in places, but overall it was okay. We have managed to wear out our Cars DVD on this trip and it no longer plays. So we may have to buy it again on Itunes before we leave France .... we'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment