Back from Berlin - a bit of talking and ZOO PHOTOS

Hi people

Muhaha, I am back from Berlin - it was AWESOME trip!
Thank you all for journey advices - we finally decided to not buy a sticker, to park our cars as close to the center as possible and to get to the hotel by underground. We in fact had no clue where to park or where to even leave a highway, but it somehow happened that we accidentaly left the car on the best place, which was really right next to the beginning of "eko" zone and just next to the tube station of the line which got us directly to the hotel. Yay!
The first thing I saw after getting out of the underground area was... CHECKPOINT CHARLIE!
One of the things I REALLY wanted to see in my life
And even our hotel was on a street, which used to be divided by Berlin wall! The remains were still lying just few metres from the hotel! Just AWESOME, AWEEEEEESSSOOMMMEEEE!
It really meant a lot for me.
I wonder if YOU know about Berlin wall and so...?
I think I will write a report about it next time

My sister studies architecture, so we spent the first day (in fact evening as we got to the hotel at 6 pm) walking through the city, admiring local architecture. My sister and mother loved all those houses and buildings - I liked them too, but I was excited about the touch of modern history. Communism era and also world war II. are my issues but I found no direct remains of the WWII topics - I think it is probably still a very sensitive topics for Germans, right? next time I just need to go to some exhibition of photos or military technique

Next day, my sister and mother continued in their "architecture quest", while I went to ZOO Berlin. The entry is pretty expensive, but I did not regret it, because I knew Berlin keeps many species, which are not kept by other animal parks. I saw aye aye! And Javan leopard - only ZOO Berlin, Tierpark Berlin and ZOO in Jakarta keep them! the ZOO is full of such curiosities and I really loved that. When it comes to photography... well, it is a challenge, a BIG challenge. Some exhibits are totally photographer friendly, but I came there especially to capture: black jaguars, Javan leopards, tigers and corsac foxes. They all lived in double fenced exhibits, which is something I hate jaguars even had tripple fence, as the bars of the cage were completed with some mesh. Nah. I somehow managed to capture some shots, so I was proud of myself but to me, all those cages for big cats looked very OLD, small, sterile and very old-fashioned in a bad way. I think they all need a renovation and ZOO should put there glass walls to allow a better view
There were some things I did not like - I went through whole ZOO like an idiot to see a BIRD HOUSE - but it was renovated! Why they simply did not put a sign there, informing people about it?
Also, when I came to the ZOO, it was raining, so I hid myself in an aquarium (you pay special price for a visit, but it is worth of it, whole aquarium is fantastic, it has many species of fish, sharks, reptiles, frogs and so. Really cool!). When I was leaving, I just used the doors with EXIT sign - but I found myself on a street of Berlin! I got scared and almost hysterical, thinking about those 20 € I paid for an entry - I was ready to start a scandal if they did not allow me to come back to the ZOO, but fortunately, they did my heart was beating so much
But a look at adorable baby seal made me calm

I left the ZOO and joined my mom and sister - we had a look at few buildings again and we went shopping I bough AWESOME navy blue dress for a wedding of my cousin (I love him so much, he is better like my very good friend ), it makes me slimmer and I feel so... lady like in it the same dress is sold also in my country, but well, the price was the same and at least I can say I bought something nice in Berlin we also bought few mascaras from KIKO, our favorite cosmetics brand
Then we went to the hotel, being VERY tired.
It happened just few meters in front of the hotel.
My sister just shouted: "look! A FOX!!!"
A had a look and really - there was a wild red fox behind a thrash bin, gazing at us! it was not afraid, rather hesitating if it should leave and run or if it should hide it finally hid itself - I went to have a look, there was a quite large FENCED area with trees and grass, a place, which was obviously ready for the start of some construction. I saw at least two pairs of fox ears there, as foxes were probably waiting for our departure so cute, after all those unlucky moments, I finally saw a wild red fox - and so close to me! it was funny and I do not think it will ever happen to me again to see FOUR species of foxes (ZOO: arctic fox, fennec fox, corsac fox, WILD: red fox) at the same day I was very happy.


Next day I went to Tierpark Berlin, which is also known for fantastic collection of animals.
It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO large that I only got to the third of the area! The incredible amount of animals is concentrated in pavilions which usually keep related animals. Like big cat house has: small species of cats (fishing cat, Caracal, manul and many more), Malayan tiger, Sumatran tiger, cougar (I know, cougar is a small cat), lion, Javan leopard, jaguar, leopard, China leopard, Amur leopard, Snow leopard, cheetah, clouded leopard. And I bet I forgot some species!
I was happy to finally see a Harpy eagle - I only did not see or photograph dingos, humming-birds () and aardwolf - it makes me a bit sad, as I really wanted to seee an aardwolf, it is such a rarity!

I think I managed to take some photos, although for this big cat pavilion, there is the same comment like for the big cat house in ZOO Berlin - those cages (yes, cages) are really small, boring and animals should get better enclosures. But well, I think ZOO will build them


The whole trip was simply awesome, I took more than 3000 photos, so you can look forward to some new deviations, I think