Six Lakes Park and Gelsenkirchen Zoo

This week has been lovely and relaxing, with a few days spent 'slobbing' about the house and doing crafting (with Matt playing Football Manager on the laptop - I have literally had to wrestle it off him in order to post my blog).  We have done a couple of day trips, which have been very chilled out.  The first was a bike ride to the Six Lakes Park which is about 3 miles from our house.  We cycled about 10 miles in total.  It was nice to get back out on the bikes, which remind me of nice weather!

We came home via an ice cream parlour... of course.

Today we did a trip to Gelsenkirchen Zoo, which we had heard really good things about.  It's not a huge zoo, but the layout is the best I have ever seen, and the animals have a lot of space.  The zoo is split into three areas; Asia, Africa and Alaska.  Everything in each area is themed on these places, including the animal habitats, the walks to get from animal enclosure to enclosure and the cafes.  There is a huge amount of detail, and every effort has been made to represent the animals in their natural habitats.  There is a specific route to follow through each area, ensuring that you see all the animals, and it leads you back out to the main entrance, where you can pick a different area to explore.  It works really well.  

We definitely did the best area first; Alaska.  The bears were fantastic, and below is a photo of a Kodiac Bear, the largest bear in the world.  It certainly was impressive.

There was a ride in the Alaska area too.  Not speaking much German, we assumed it was a walk through thing and in we went.  We were led into a huge Igloo type area, with rows to stand in and a hand rail, with three large TV screens at the front,  Suddenly our igloo had broken free of the ice and was hurtling down some rapids, displayed on the screen, and the floor was moving too!  Really throwing us around.  It was great, until we 'landed' in the sea during a storm, and thank goodness it ended there because I was starting to feel motion sick!

We did the Asia section next, and were greeted by this wonderful Siberian Tiger......

... who happened to have positioned himself right in front of the viewing window.

Below, I think is some sort of Panda... or Lemur...  The photo really made us laugh, as he was stuck up on a pole about 20 feet off the ground, looking exactly like a fur hat.

A stop off in the Monkey enclosure for tea and cake.

This little Giraffe was having a bath, given to him by his Mum, which seemed to be thirsty work...

We went on a little boat ride in the Africa section to see some Monekeys and Flamingos. 

This is Matt and his 'pick 'n' mix baby'.

... and a very pleasing Insect Hotel.