Lions and Tigers and Bears

All week, I'd been waiting for Saturday when we had plans not only to reschedule our canceled zoo visit from the previous week, but also to attend a wine tasting. I was a little surprised, then, when I woke up in a bad mood on Saturday morning.

Even though the forecast had said it was supposed to be sunny, the clouds that had brought Friday showers were still hanging around in the sky. When I opened the forecast Web site, the forecasted temperature had dropped 2 degrees celsius, and we were now supposed to have a mixture of clouds and sun. I worried that the outfit I planned would not be warm enough, and I debated what combination of clothes would work for both the zoo and the wine tasting. Then, I went into the "I don't have anything to wear" panic with which most women are familiar. I felt overwhelmed and angry at the meteorologists. How hard can it be to get the weather right?

Eventually, though, I snapped myself out of the downward pity party spiral, got dressed with an extra layer (after Mr. Traveler promised he would carry it if I got too hot), and gathered up our Amsterdam guide book and the directions I had printed for the zoo and tasting.

After my bout of grumpiness in the morning, the rest of the day went so smoothly. The weather even cooperated, turning sunny and staying that way for the entire day. I did get a little warm at one point, but Mr. Traveler was true to his word and toted around my coat until I got chilled again.

Artis Zoo is a pretty good size zoo smack in the middle of the city, which meant on one side the zoo was bored by a canal.

View from the Zoo

The zoo first opened in 1838 and therefore houses several historical buildings, which added another aspect to the visit. However, we were definitely most focused on the animals. I think my favorite was a baby Mandrill. He ran back and forth between the adult monkeys, jumping over logs, and playing the whole time.

Baby Mandrill

I also got a kick out of the spastic sea lion who dove in and out of the water, jumped up on the scale, and then stared at us like he was expecting a treat. (It was especially funny because the rest of the sea lions just wanted to lay around.)

Where are my fish?

One thing that I noticed throughout the exhibits was the lack of over protection of visitors that we are so accustomed to in the States. For example, as we wondered through the ring-tailed lemur exhibit, there was nothing separating us from the animals. We also crossed slippery and wobbly rocks walking through the enclosure. Then, the red lemurs were not caged at all, which made me wonder how the zookeepers kept them in their area. Nothing but common sense prevented you from putting your fingers into the wild dog or vulture cases, although seeing the animals consume large raw hunks of meat seemed to provide enough incentive.

Too Close to the Lemur?

Wild Dog Food

After the zoo, we had a few hours until the wine tasting began. We opened up the guidebook and tried to come up with a plan. We decided to head towards the Scheepvaartmuseum (maritime museum), which the guide book indicated had started a 2 year renovation in 2007. I was skeptical about whether the museum would be open, since projects seem to always take longer than expected, but it was within walking distance, so off we went. However, as we neared the building, it was pretty obvious that the museum was still closed. The building was fenced off and construction crews surrounded it. Behind the windows, sat empty rooms instead of display cases.

Scheepvaartmuseum

We switched gears and headed toward the NEMO, the science museum. We noticed stairs leading up to the stop of a museum and people hanging out on a multilevel terrace. At the bottom of the stairs, we saw a sign for a cafe and so we made our way up to the top to grab a snack and a view. The sun was beating down and we took off our coats and soaked up the rays as we enjoyed some ice cream.

Stairs to the Cafe

After a little while in the sun with full bellies, we started to feel groggy, so we headed back down and in to the museum. I would have loved the NEMO museum as a child; everything was interactive, which eliminated the monotony that accompanies some museum exhibits. In addition, the variety of exhibits appealed to different ages and experience levels. With our Museumkaarts, the museum was free, so I didn't feel too bad that we only got to spend about 30 minutes inside before the announcement that the museum was closing. Before we left, however, we got the opportunity to see what our future child may look like:

Future Child?

After the museum closed, we still had some time to kill, but we knew that the other museums would be closed as well. We wondered through the red light district and towards the wine tasting event space. It seemed to take forever to get past the sex shops, coffee shops, and windows of women, not because we were walking particularly slow, but because the area expands well past the borders of "the red light district" on the tour guides. Finally, we found a place where we could get actual coffee (or koffie), and we sipped our drinks while we waited for time to pass. Soon enough, however, the cafe was closing as well, so we figured out the location of the studio where the wine tasting was held and then wondered around that area for a little while longer.
Next up, a detailed account of our first experience with a wine tasting event.

(By the way, there were lions, there were bears, but there were no tigers to be seen.)