The Zoo and Gardens in Karlsruhe

Yesterday we did a circular trip from Walldorf to Stuttgart and back again. There was some nice hilly scenery and perfectly set out vineyards. It was nice but not breath-taking! It meant we avoided the intense heat. Early in the trip we passed a cornfield with the most beautiful wild flowers alongside.

The highlight of that trip as far as I was concerned!

Today, eventhough it was 31 degrees at 9.30 am, another sedentary day could not be contemplated so we went to the zoo/gardens in Karlsruhe. Lovely! We could walk in the shade for most of it so it was very enjoyable.

The gardens and zoo are set out around 2 biggish lakes - Schwanensee (but we saw no swans) and Stadtgartensee and a third smaller lake, Ludwigsee.

First of all a comment on the appropriate dress code of the day given that it was 36 degrees and only 11 am!

Tempting as it was, we remained clothed for fear certain exposed areas might react badly to the sun!












Going in a clockwise direction from the Ticket Office (where we got our first seniors' tickets of the trip!) these are all the things we saw:

On Schwanensee there were what they called Gondoletta, little boats in which you sat as they moved along a pre-determined path without any sffort from you. The system must have been underwater because we could not see it. It might have been nice but they moved so slowly that it would have been too hot.

 I love this idea. A container of books from which you can select to read and swap for another book. It's an honesty system. The only place I have seen this in Ireland is on the Buncrana walk around the coast.

And on to the Japanese Garden which was what I really wanted to see. There was little colour but it is very pretty.

Following that there was a garden for the deaf and blind. I'm not sure if that works. We then came to the first of a games area for giant draughts and chess.

The last game obviously had a bad loser!

And on to the Rose Garden. The roses were wilting a little in the very hot weather and not looking their best.

A thorn among the roses! Or a thorn in Jim's side!!

What a wonderful thing ...

The Stadtgartensee and more boats on the same system. There are lots of play areas for children even a kinderautobahn where doting mothers took pictures of their offspring as they drove by carefully instructed by their fathers.

We went into the smelephant's indoor abode and, despite it being cooler, we were glad to emerge. The elephant (3 of them) were out with a keeper spraying them to cool them down. This elephant could have done with some cooling down!

What a lovely job - shovelling elephant shit!

Big birds!

Overcome with heat!

We had to climb up quite a steep path to find the owls but it was worth it!

And finally an interesting fountain, a trip to the shop for chilled water and home to escape the growing heat. It's 38 degrees as I write and it's 6 pm!!