Wilhema Zoo

We could not have asked for more perfect weather this weekend.  What's nice is that it was a long weekend (three-day) and the weather remained gorgeous the whole time.  On Saturday, we wanted to be out in the sun and take Sina someplace fun.  Well, the Wilhema Zoo and Botanical Gardens really hit the mark, and I have to admit that I was really the one who'd been itching to go to this place. 

The Wilhema is exactly what I said it is...it's a huge botanical garden and zoo spread across a vast expanse of land that once belonged to King Wilhelm I and, after his death, became the private gardens of the royal family.  Today, the Wilhema is the only zoo and botanical garden in Germany.  There are two parts to the park.  The lower part is the older part and the original Wilhema grounds.  It consists primarily of the original greenhouses and Moorish-style buildings.  The lower part also has an aquarium and some animal houses (for apes and monkeys). The upper part, is the newer part that has been built upon for many years and houses the bigger animals like elephants, bears, and tigers.  These parts were added piece by piece and upward into the Rosenstein hills--so the more animals we wanted to see, the more hiking we had to do.  It was quite a workout.

Anyway, I took tons of pictures that day.  I'm only going to post my faves...which means, I'll still post quite a few.

Sina was all ready to go that morning.  She even wore her "zoo" gear.  Her shirt said, "I'm new here!"

She could barely contain her excitement and her curiosity had her peeking out of her stroller a good while until we eventually ended up carrying her pretty must the entire time.  She wanted to see it all!

 

Flowers were in bloom everywhere.  Of course we had to take a few pictures.  And look at this happy baby...and her prince!

More pictures of the lower part of Wilhema.  The aquarium, where Sina was in awe the most.  She just loved seeing and trying to touch all the fish.  It was the most adorable thing to see.  Here are also pics of one of many beautiful greenhouses and historic buildings.

Here fishy, fishy.

Lovely greenhouse.  I think this one had a butterfly exhibit inside.  It's also attached to the Moorish Villa (living quarters).

This is the Moorish Banquet Hall that was originally used for royal festivities, balls and such.

Here is one taken from the upper part, which is uphill, hence the beautiful view of the city.  There's even an outdoor cafe for enjoying the view.

How about this bear exhibit?

Here are other favorites from the day.

My, what big teeth you have.  That head is bigger than her entire body!

My favorite picture. Daddy showing Sina the monkeys!

The happy family.

Bringing all the animals (that we've been showing Sina via books and videos) to life!  Elephants, oh my!

I'll be posting the rest of the photos on Facebook, but I will share one more.  Evidence that it was a successful day...

...one very exhausted little girl.

Again, a great weekend and I'm already looking forward to this weekend.  Nothing special planned yet, but it's been a crazy week already!

Take care everyone!

P.S.  One more thing...isn't it great that the hat she wore that day actually fits?  I bought it a few months ago on sale for a little over $1.00 at Baby Gap.  Take a look at what she looked like the first time she wore it....at two months old!!!