A day at the zoo - Antwerp, Belgium

Last Thursday, three other moms and I headed off to Antwerp to visit the zoo.  The Antwerp Zoo is one of the oldest in the world with it's origin dating back to 1843!  It is also unique because it is located right in the middle of the city adjacent to the central train station.  After the hassle we had with parking, if we ever go back to the zoo we will most definitely take the train!

The weather at the beginning of the kids vacation was sunny and "warm-ish" (mid-50's), but Thursday greeted us with cold and rain in true Belgian style.  However, these brave mothers ventured on.

Here is our pack...yes, we were 4 mothers and FOURTEEN children between our four families!!  Can you believe it?  Plus, there were only two girls in the bunch.  All the children managed to see the exhibits that interested them most and we managed not to lose anyone, which is quite a feat with three pre-schoolers in the group all with a knack for wandering off! 

As I mentioned, the zoo is nearly 170 years old and many of the buildings were reminiscent of the Victorian days.  This building is a small aviary. 

One of my favorite parts was the penguin exhibit.  I LOVE these birds.  I was commenting with one of the other moms how it is odd that penguins can be so graceful and quick in the water, but so clumsy and awkward on land!  It was hilarious to see them line up, like the photo, then one would jump in and they would then follow one by one in the water.  After a few minutes, one would jump out and then one by one they would all jump out again!  I also thought this would be a great photo for AT&T commercial.

Here Drew was enjoying the penguins with his friend. 

Then, we came across this interesting building.  This "Egyptian temple" was built in 1856 and now houses the elephants and giraffes...because, you know, there were so many elephants and giraffes in ancient Egypt.  Seriously though, it did strike me as a bit odd, but it was a colorful addition to the zoo. 

And here are the adorable elephants.  Ever since Jason and I saw an amazing documentary about elephants and their extenisve social behavior and apparent deep emotional attachments to each other, I've always had a soft spot for them.  To top it off, there was even a cute baby elephant following his mom around and snuggling against all the other elephants. 

Just as we walked up to the big cats exhibit, this tiger magestically walked out on this log and peered out at all the spectators.  It is breathtaking to see these enormous, powerful animals so close.  I almost felt my heart racing as I imagined coming across one of these out in the wilderness somewhere.  

One of the unique aspects of this zoo, is that it seems you are out in a removed place observing these animals and then every so often you get a reminder that you right right in the middle of downtown in one of Belgium's largest cities.  Like this exhibit, when we went to see the nocturnal animals and there was the central train station just on the other side of the fence!  

Probably the highlight of the day for these two.  Face-paint!  Jenna and Ethan are crazy for face paint.  Anytime we are at the fair or have been at Disney, this is all they want to do.  Just for clarification, Ethan requested to be a penguin!

By mid-afternoon, half our entourage had to leave to catch the train back to Waterloo.  Our day ended with a fantastic game of tag with the three young boys of a new friend I met at MOPS a few weeks ago.  Their family has 3 boys - 6,4, and 2 - and they live only a few streets away!  All the kids got along so well, and we are looking forward to many more playdates as the weather improves.

 So here we are with our filthy boots at the end of a cold and wet day.  The Antwerp zoo was a nice day trip for us.  However, I have to agree with some of the reviews that I read before we went.  It could stand some updating and general cleaning in several areas; but then again we were there in winter, on a cold, grey day when all the trees were bare.  I'd love to experience this zoo on a warm, sunny summer day.  I'm sure it would be a totally different experience.

Even though we didn't take the train, we hopped into the station to check it out just before we returned to the car.  It was beautiful and reminded me of something in Paris!

Everything was so clean and there was even a Starbucks!  Now I'm definitely sold on the train to Antwerp for our next visit.

And for our last stop before returning home...the AMERICAN STORE!  This convenient sized store is located in the southern part of Antwerp and stocked full of all types of American products that are nearly impossible to get in the main grocery stores in  Brussels.

What do you see here - actual pancake syrup and pancake mix, Pop Tarts, peanut butter, BBQ sauce and even flavored coffee creamer!  However, all of this comes at a price.  For example, one box of Pop Tarts (which we don't eat, but just to give an idea) costs 4.99 euro - which currently ~ $6.90!  One bottle of pancake syrup was 5.99 euro ~ $8.25!  To say the least, we only purchased a few items but it was fun to see familiar things.