Cross Eyed Opossums (aka Leipzig Zoo)

This weekend, we ventured off to the Zoo Leipzig. Though a bit pricy, it was definitely worth it! The zoo just opened up a new exhibit and have been heavily advertising that they now has a cross-eyed opossum on display. The zoo's aquarium is also well known. We were able to walk to the zoo from our apartment and had an awesome day.

As soon as you walk through the gate you are greeted with flamingos:

In the reptile area, Bryan tried to imitate the Mississippi Crocodile (just like the ones I have actually seen in Mississippi):

After checking out the fish and reptiles, we ventured over to Bryan's favorite part of the zoo... the Penguin Pool! These penguins were vastly superior to the penguins at Lincoln Park Zoo.

The brand new exhibit was up next. This just opened a few weeks ago and is also the only exhibit that was translated into English. My theory is that there weren't as many English speaking tourists coming to Leipzig when the zoo's older exhibits were built. The exhibit is supposed to demonstrate life on Earth when Africa, Asia, and South America were all connected. I think. The whole exhibit is in a large bubble (like an indoor sports bubble) and has a river, underground exhibits (for nocturnal animals,) and a super-intense rope bridge pathway.

The exhibit:

Bryan's reaction to the rope bridge:

The famous cross eyed opossum (Not kidding at all. This little guy is real. And creepier than the opossum we found in my parents' garage that one time):

Overall, this exhibit was pretty cool. Lots of beautiful plants and flowers, too. Next we went to visit my favorite animals, the elephants. However, they only wanted to show us this:

They told their friends the monkeys to do the same. Hmm.

We had better luck in the African exhibit. The baby giraffe was adorable and the other giraffes were willing to show their faces while chowing down on some leaves and grasses.

And, there was an ostrich. He looked a little cranky, but they always seem to be in a bad mood.

We also saw dwarf cows:

Horses, red pandas, and llamas wrapped up the visit:

This zoo was awesome! The exhibits had a lot of variety, it was easy to get around the park, and food at the zoo is much, much more reasonable than at home in the US. Saturday night was spent at another going-away party for a friend of ours here. It is the time of year for that, I suppose. Sunday was going to be spent at Champions, The American Sports Bar at the Marriott for the World Cup Finals, but Bryan came down with a stomach bug so we watched our beloved White Sox instead (MLB tv for a month was worth it!). Stay tuned for a post about garden plots!