We took the subway to the zoo stop. It was very easy to get to and reasonably cheap. The first thing to greet us was this stone koala bear. For a koala bear, it looked confused. But I had always believed koala bears were out of it and always confused on a count of all the eucalyptus leaves they eat. Jessica has just informed me that koalas aren't actually bears...but they should be bears I think.
The first sight of the zoo was not that exciting. It was raining that day and everything looked colorless and cold. If you have not realized all ready, many signs in Japan (such as the zoo sign) are designed for people with ADHD (or "ADD with Hyper activity" for the politically correct).
However, once inside, everything changed. Somehow the greens look greener even on a day such as this. The park was very empty. Probably because normal people go on sunny days...but not us.
Here is a picture of what I believe are black swan. It was the first time I had ever seen them, they kind of look like geese.
To show off, Jessica had to do another 'geek' smile with her new umbrella open. See how big it is? See how small she is?
This fountain was interesting. It looks like a big tea bowl. Even though the day was wet, the water coming from the fountain smelled good.
Our first 'real' animal was a rhino. Even though the geese were technically 'real' in all sense of the term, this rhino can actually kill you. Real animals in zoos can kill you.
For those people who have a particular liking to rhino, here is a backside shot. Kind of pimply...
Here is a picture of a ferocious Japanese cat.
Although the last one was scary, this one is cuddly.
This cat was nice. It was sleeping. An then Jessica made it mad by swinging her long arms. It attacked the fence at her with the rage of a hundred "woken up parents in the middle of the night because the kid was yelling".
It was pissed.
What surprised me most was the small size of all the cages. American zoos for the most part have large areas for the animals to be in. The cats usually have 'simulated' environments with plenty of space. However, the Nagoya zoo had small cages for most of the animals. This made the zoo much more enjoyable because the animals had no where to hide. If you love animals you may find this hurtful but the this zoo was the most enjoyable zoo I had ever been to because you can see all the animals up close and personal.
Believe it or not, this Japanese elephant is the same size as other elephants around the world. I thought even these beasts would be small, cute, and cuddly in Japan. I was wrong...
I would like to move on to the cuddly ones then. Witness exhibit A.
If you did not find that one cute, you do not have a soul and should not bare children. Now this one is less cute but equally delicious. Notice how meaty the legs are and how warm the fur is.
The St. Louis zoo in the last couple of years opened up a penguin exhibit. It is a really nice exhibit where you can get REALLY close to the penguins. I touched a couple my self. At first the penguins were nice. They played, swam, and raced. However, the last visit was a surprise. The lovely penguins learned a new trick. I would lift my camera to take a picture and SPLASH!!!!!! I was very wet. I looked behind me to see another guy slowly lift his camera and then SPLASH!!!!! then he was wet. Lucky for me the penguins below were still nice.
Ah, a nice peaceful swim... Just like I like it. No splash, no wetness, no smelling like fish.
The most fun animal at the park was this monkey...ape...err gibbon. This gibbon is loud, can do back flips, somersaults, and jump off of the walls in a Super Mario fashion. I have a video of it, drop me an email if you want to see it.
I learned that the retina of this cat is green. GREEN. (well technically the reflective material in the back of the retina)
One cool animal was this large dinosaur. It was nice but...boring.
These kangaroos are practicing Shinto priests.
Wet Beaver.
Here is a pretty shot of pink flamingos.
And a polar bear. It took this bear 20 minutes to turn his head so that I can take this pictures. Enjoy
Here is a sexy picture of Frida Khalo. Also known as a sloth bear.
Robert decided to smoke, only that he ended up catching the smoke in his umbrella, suffocating, and then collapsing to the ground.
Japanese care about the roof much more than the wall. Sometimes there are no walls at all.
We all decided to see the Botanical Gardens inside the park. Along the way I had to take this picture of Jessica on a robot. Because in my mind, robots and Japan are lovers.
A blurry picture of Jessica and Spring.
Here is my favorite picture of the tower inside the Zoo. Tell me what you think?
The zoo is truly an oasis in a big city.
More of our stroll down to the gardens. Flowers and pictures of women are the kind of pictures I enjoy most.
An exotic fountain near the gardens.
This tree was absolutely amazing. This is almost something out of a Tim Burton movie.
Most of the pictures of the gardens were taken by Jessica of course including this lovely piece. She is a professional, that she is.
Now tell me, how does the following make you feel?
Or how about this one? ...such penile humor.
This little picture shows a rock with a world on it. It kind of looks like a mountain even if it is only about the size of my head.
This one is my personal favorite....
The gardens were a large maze of green houses. There were probably over a dozen rooms where exotic plants from around the world lived. Here is a picture of my confusion/fear/utter excitement of the plants around me.
They even had these really tall spikey plants. The dessert variety. To show you their size, I stood under them.
This tree was literally elevated about 10 feet by only its roots. I call this one "old grandma with grey hair".
These plants were just weird. Are the holes natural or are they produced by bugs. I don't know.
For the family members here is a picture of Jessica and I sitting. I enjoyed it the most because as a man, I can not walk ten feet without collapsing to a seat. This is a good practice while shopping with a woman. Although this was not shopping, I say "Who doesn't enjoy a good sit!"
We finally finished looking at all sorts of plants and insects. With about 4o minutes left till the park closed the whole group decided to do some paddle boating. Even though the paddle boats were technically closed, I was able to negotiate with one of the guys there to let us ride. Here is a picture of the types of paddle boats we could have ridden on. Unfortunately at this time the camera decided it had no more battery left so I could not get a picture of the cool HELICOPTER 4 seater with action stripes that we were able to snatch. It even had a propeller on top....how cool!
While Robert, Spring, Jessica, and I were cool about paddle boating, Corey decided it was too childish. So he was left by himself to feed this fish. It would have cost him 10 cents but he was too cheap I think.
We had a really great time at the zoo. It was the most enjoyable zoo I had ever been to because all of the animals were easy to see and actually moving. The botanical gardens were beautiful and surprisingly huge. It was nice to finish the day with some paddle boating. I hope you enjoyed this post. Please feel free to comment below. Love you all, and keep in touch. Oh and click on an ad once in a while. I need sustenance.
