Me Gustan Tus Zapatos...: The Barcelona Zoo

On Wednesday I decided that it was time for Liam and I to have another activity that was not grocery store or food related as most of our daily trips tend to be. In our month here, I feel like I've only taken him on 2 fun trips - to Parc Guell and to the beach. We have 5 days a week together just the two of us and I had promised him and myself with this move that I would spend better quality time with him. And while I have spent better quality time, he may not see it that way when all I do is drag him around.

So today we went to the Barcelona Zoo http://www.zoobarcelona.cat/ZOO_Barcelona/English/English.asp, also known as Parc Zoologic - founded in 1892! It was right off the yellow line on the metro, actually only about 2 stops from Josh's work. If Liam hadn't been near meltdown by the time we were done I was going to call Josh to see if he wanted to meet up with us for lunch. Next time I suppose.

The zoo was relatively empty - I saw very few people other than the employees (and they employ a lot of people at the zoo). I find that funny because it was probably about 50-55 degrees out. At home, not only would we be wearing shorts soon if we weren't already due to the arrival of spring, but we'd also be out at the playgrounds, the zoo, anywhere we can be outside. Here, not so much. Not only was the zoo empty of people, it was also kind of empty of animals, similar to home this time of year. Apparently not all of the animals like the 50 degree climate and were inside or at another zoo for the "winter". I found it especially funny that the alligator wasn't there since at home I know he's not out all winter, but as soon as April rolls around and some decent weather, he'll be out. But apparently the Spanish alligator does not feel the same.

The layout of the zoo and also the surroundings reminded me a bit of Roger Williams Zoo in RI more than Southwicks Zoo (my personal fave) in MA. Like RWZ, it's in the center of the city so a bit more compact. It was clean but not a lot of flower beds, mulch beds, etc - kind of stoic looking if that's the right word. Again, reminds me a bit of RWZ (and don't think I don't like Roger Williams, because I do). One of the bigger differences I noticed compared to our zoos at home and this could be a climate thing or a dangerous animal thing or who knows what kind of thing, but a lot of animals were behind glass instead of fencing. All of the monkeys (none of which were out), the gorillas (nice bonus, we don't have them at our zoos), etc - all behind glass.

There were a few animals I was pleasantly surprised to see that we don't see at our zoos at home - gorillas, storks, tapir, cheetah, panthers and if they had been out, brown bear and hippos. But the best animal of all were the dolphins!! Yes, they had dolphins! I don't remember the last time I saw dolphins, perhaps at the aquarium as a kid?? They were just the most amazingly beautiful animals and Liam and I were the only ones in their area and they would only swim to our window and kept pushing their noses (are they noses or something else?) up against the glass at us. I just wanted to squeeze them and bring them home with us!! Liam loved them too though kept calling them sharks. Oh well!!

All in all, a fun day for the two of us. It was nice to get out, nice to walk in a park-like environment and not feel enclosed in a city and nice to see some animals!!