07.14.08
ZOO
AQUARIUM
After being surprised by our local zoo’s six legged cow, we decided to see what wonders of the animal world awaited us in Beijing. Off to the zoo!
Schäfer loved seeing the pandas! (So did a mob of other people!)
And the Panda seemed to enjoy seeing Schäfer. (So did the mob of other people!)
The Beijing Zoo has four adult pandas.
And 8 baby pandas.
Panda fact: Pandas are the only bear that does not hibernate in the winter because bamboo does not provide enough nutrition to build up fat.
Unfortunately, it was a rainy day so most of the animals were taking a nap.
To get out of the rain, we headed into the aquarium which is located within the zoo. After all, fish are animals too.
Welcome to Schäfer’s wildest dream come true! (Minus Oprah and her theme song.)
We caught a “feeding show”.
Snack time.
The Beijing aquarium also has a sea lion and dolphin show. Look! Animals playing with balls. Schäfer’s two favorite things!
Part of the dolphin show. As you can tell, we weren’t the only people who thought of coming to the zoo on a rainy Monday morning.
The Lionfish. Way cool!
The Chinese goldfish.
Once back outside, we saw this beautiful bald eagle. Other animals included: tigers, a lion, elephants, a hippo, a rhino, monkeys, etc.
And Ostrich’s too.
Who can look at the camera when there are Zebras!
Schäfer loved seeing the giraffe. I’d say the monkeys were also high on his list.
When Schäfer saw a small raccoon-like animal he started barking…then, he switched to meowing…finally, he looked at me and said, “neigh?”
He ran all over the zoo and had such a magical day.
In between the zoo and the subway is a Qing Feng steamed bun restaurant.
It’s kind of a do-it-yourself restaurant where you order your baozi, grab your own chopsticks and dig in.
The baozi are made fresh upon order. They were delicious.
But when Hubs saw this meat-on-a-stick, he had a hankering for more meat.
Hubs digs in while Schäfer dreams of becoming a zoo keeper.
That evening after we returned home, we read our zoo book. I paused for a moment before saying the name of the first animal and Schäfer said it. As it turns out, he has the entire book memorized.
Despite the light rain, it was another fantastic day.
What a DAY–WOW!!!! I so wish we could have joined you for the zoo trip–it looks AMAZING!
P.S. Could you please bring one of those panda babies when you come home to visit!?! Cutest thing I’ve ever seen!
Hey Sandra!
Shafer is so cute! (how do you type the 2 dots over the “a” in his name???) just curious.
Thanks for the fun tour of the zoo! The pandas were my favorite!
Hope you have a great day! Jaime
Hi Jamie. Each computer does the umlaut differently. For our computer press: Fn + Alt then 1,3,2 – but it’s the special numbers on the keys J L and K probably written in blue. That’s more thank you probably wanted to know or even deal with! We don’t expect others to use the umlaut. I can’t believe how big your girls are getting. They grow up so fast!
Cute pics! In case you’re still wondering about that animal way back in your post about the local zoo, the “small panda” is actually called a red panda. They are also native to China.
Keep up the good work on your blog!