Today was a holiday in part of Germany so the office was closed. I took the opportunity to visit the Cologne Zoo and boy was it fantastic! Overall I spent about 4 hours there because it was huge and there were tons of animals to see.
I started my day around 8 and went downstairs for breakfast like usual. After breakfast I found a local ATM and withdrew some Euros using my normal bank card. I was only charged a 1 Euro fee, unlike the lobby ATM that wanted to charge 75 cents per Euro.
I made my way through the main train station and found the tram station on the far side. The zoo is relatively close, but just outside walking distance, so the tram ride was short. I arrived at the zoo a little after 9 and it was not very busy. I made my way inside and found a map (in German, but it had pictures so I was able to reference it several times throughout the day).
The zoo looks more like a park in most areas. The animal enclosures are huge! Throughout the day the zoo got busier and the weather got warmer. After about 4 hours I had finished seeing everything and decided it was time to go back to my hotel and cool off. It's a good thing I did because an hour or so later thunderstorms rolled in and it's been raining on and off all night.
I went to an Italian chain restaurant called Vapiano for dinner (similar to Noodles & Co.) and had a tasty dinner of Penne with Marinara and chocolate mousse cake. Overall it was a great day off from work.
Here are some of my zoo photos...
The main entrance of the zoo (to the right) and the aquarium (to the left).
The meerkats were having fun moving every time these ladies took a photo.
Here's a shot of the meerkat exhibit, it stretches from off frame to the left all the way down to the other cones where the people are on the right.
The cheetahs were lounging in the shade early in the morning. This one rolled over as I was waiting for a better picture than their backs.
Can you guess what this animal is?
The tiger was roaming all over it's exhibit (which is also quite large) and then decided to stop for a drink. A perfect photo op!
This little guy came out of his burrow and sniffed me through a crack in the glass.
A view of the honey badger exhibit. The first photo is from the right area, then there is a fully enclosed area in the middle (most likely staff access) and a similar glass area on the left with a tunnel connecting the two.
The sea otter. He looks sad in this photo, but I assure you he was having fun wrestling with another otter before and after this photo was taken.
A peacock mixed in among the other birds.
A view of about 1/3 of the elephant yard. This place was massive and they have a ton of elephants.
Including 2 babies (the larger one in the front) and if you look really close at the left front foot of the one on the left you'll see the tiny elephants trunk. I was waiting for them to move but they didn't for about 10 minutes so I moved on.
The sea lions were having a ball swimming back and forth. This one decided to jump up on the rocks and make some noise.
Penguins being penguins.
A Northern Hawk Owl who decided to take a bath as I arrived in the Owlery. He was working on drying off in this photo.
The Barn Owl was curious about my camera.
Giraffes all laying down. They were up later in the morning eating from some poles off frame to the right.
A ring-tailed mongoose. Another animal that I'm pretty sure I've never seen before.
The hippos were taking a nap. They have a big indoor pond and shoreline area and an equally large outdoor area.
A view of the indoor hippo area.
I started my day around 8 and went downstairs for breakfast like usual. After breakfast I found a local ATM and withdrew some Euros using my normal bank card. I was only charged a 1 Euro fee, unlike the lobby ATM that wanted to charge 75 cents per Euro.
I made my way through the main train station and found the tram station on the far side. The zoo is relatively close, but just outside walking distance, so the tram ride was short. I arrived at the zoo a little after 9 and it was not very busy. I made my way inside and found a map (in German, but it had pictures so I was able to reference it several times throughout the day).
The zoo looks more like a park in most areas. The animal enclosures are huge! Throughout the day the zoo got busier and the weather got warmer. After about 4 hours I had finished seeing everything and decided it was time to go back to my hotel and cool off. It's a good thing I did because an hour or so later thunderstorms rolled in and it's been raining on and off all night.
I went to an Italian chain restaurant called Vapiano for dinner (similar to Noodles & Co.) and had a tasty dinner of Penne with Marinara and chocolate mousse cake. Overall it was a great day off from work.
Here are some of my zoo photos...
The main entrance of the zoo (to the right) and the aquarium (to the left).
Camels! I don't think I've ever seen live camels before.
The meerkats were having fun moving every time these ladies took a photo.
Here's a shot of the meerkat exhibit, it stretches from off frame to the left all the way down to the other cones where the people are on the right.
The cheetahs were lounging in the shade early in the morning. This one rolled over as I was waiting for a better picture than their backs.
Can you guess what this animal is?
The tiger was roaming all over it's exhibit (which is also quite large) and then decided to stop for a drink. A perfect photo op!
This little guy came out of his burrow and sniffed me through a crack in the glass.
A view of the honey badger exhibit. The first photo is from the right area, then there is a fully enclosed area in the middle (most likely staff access) and a similar glass area on the left with a tunnel connecting the two.
The sea otter. He looks sad in this photo, but I assure you he was having fun wrestling with another otter before and after this photo was taken.
A peacock mixed in among the other birds.
A view of about 1/3 of the elephant yard. This place was massive and they have a ton of elephants.
Including 2 babies (the larger one in the front) and if you look really close at the left front foot of the one on the left you'll see the tiny elephants trunk. I was waiting for them to move but they didn't for about 10 minutes so I moved on.
The sea lions were having a ball swimming back and forth. This one decided to jump up on the rocks and make some noise.
Penguins being penguins.
A Northern Hawk Owl who decided to take a bath as I arrived in the Owlery. He was working on drying off in this photo.
The Barn Owl was curious about my camera.
Giraffes all laying down. They were up later in the morning eating from some poles off frame to the right.
A ring-tailed mongoose. Another animal that I'm pretty sure I've never seen before.
The hippos were taking a nap. They have a big indoor pond and shoreline area and an equally large outdoor area.
A view of the indoor hippo area.
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