Sex in the City...Zoo

 If you are not familiar with the Cole Porter classic hit Let's Do It, here is how it starts.

 

When the little bluebird
Who has never said a word
Starts to sing Spring
When the little bluebell
At the bottom of the dell
Starts to ring Ding dong Ding dong
When the little blue clerk
In the middle of his work
Starts a tune to the moon up above
It is nature that is all
Simply telling us to fall in love

And that's why birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Cold Cape Cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do it
Even lazy jellyfish do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

I've heard that lizards and frogs do it
Layin' on a rock
They say that roosters do it
With a doodle and cock

Last Sunday, we went to the zoo with Mary Beth, Alice, Kat, Andi, and Dan came along much later. Spring was definitely in the air and it was almost embarrassing if it were nature taking its course. We were at the giraffe enclosure where there are a goodly number of animals. People are standing near the fence delighted that two giraffes are leaning over for the zoo chow being offered by children and adults alike. Ron and I have been to a giraffe refuge in Kenya, so we know the thrills of having a close-up with a giraffe. I had one nuzzle my mouth when I was bullied into holding food this way, by our guide.

As the giraffes lost interest in the food or people ran out, I am not sure which, something happened that we had not seen in Kenya. A male giraffe was standing behind another and within seconds had an erection and tried to mount the female. At least we assume it was a female; a second erection was not apparent. Giraffe # 2 moved a foot away. Horny giraffe, completely lost his erection, but within seconds it had returned...in full force. He could star in a Viagra commercial. This scenario was like one of those auto accidents that you know you should not look at, but cannot stop yourself from staring. The show continued for a good 20 minutes, but please don’t ask me how I know that. It is embarrassing. What was more embarrassing was how the human men seemed to be awed by the proportions of such a human-like firm turgid form. Finally, all of us dragged ourselves away.

This was not the only romance that spring had sprung. Two mountain goats were doing the nasty while on a very narrow ledge in their exhibit. What a great show of balance. Any gymnast would have given them a score of 10 for the performance. 

Monkeys were doing it, but hell, you expect them to monkey around, right? Lust was definitely in the air. Everywhere you looked males were after females and a good number of them were not even caged, but should have been.

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The Zoo Do

At breakfast at the hotel, we each found a chocolate Easter bunny by our plates. They also served hard boiled eggs, but since they were all brown, I think they were dyed by the chicken and not the Easter Bunny.


Our American friends who have lived in the Netherlands for as long as we have lived in Hungary, came to Amsterdam to spend the day with us. Audrey, Mike and Oskar were our playmates for Easter Sunday. Ron had to do his religious thing, Easter duty, going to church, so we met them at 11:30. What to do, what to do? What do you do when you have a chronological child and three adults who have inner children who all need entertaining? You do the zoo. Do the zoo; a zoo do was in order. 


After watching a BBC three part series on the London Zoo, I no longer complain about the cost of zoo admissions: Ron's was €17.50 and mine was €18.95. When you really consider the full day's enjoyment, it really is not bad at all. The animals are well cared for and there were a few I had not seen before. Others were familiar, but so robust and hearty, it was a pleasure to view them again. 


We said our goodbyes around 5:30 seeing off the family group at the train station and went back to the hotel. Ron rested, I wrote. We went exploring for a dinner place. I had remembered a number restaurants off a popular square where here by myself, but never tried any. We walked over there and found quite a few, but they were pricey, which was interesting considering the tram line that ran on that street is no longer. The restaurant that spoke bi-locationally to our stomach and wallet was a Mexican place. Alfonso's fed us well with Mexican food that was as good as what we ate in California. Who would have guessed it?


Tomorrow, we leave. There were things I would have liked to have done, but did not have time for, but you always need to save something for next time. 

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Deer Me

If you did not know there was a small, yet, lovely little petting zoo on Margaret Island, you won't miss it once it is gone. However, if you cherished those moments passing by the Bambi clones thinking "I really should go in there one of these days," the days are numbered. 


The deer have left the zoo and they will soon be followed by the rest of the twenty-five other species of animals that co-habitated in their little furry and feathery commune. Due to a lack of funding, the mini-zoo will be closed for good in the near future. Under the auspices of the Budapest Zoo, this little faction is not holding its own financially, when the official city funding for it was cut 4 years ago. If someone had packaged the zoo pooh like other major zoos do, they may have been able to survive a little longer. 

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Mondays Are for Animals

Not all Insomnia coffee shops are created equal. Some are little cafes, while the one today is a bar in a smaller Spar store. The muffins are not very fresh either. With all of the coffee I had drunk in this country, I cannot say I had a good espresso drink yet. Some places even use the same brands they do in Budapest, but the quality of the drink is not close to being as tasty. The water perhaps? Maybe their need a better filtering system of the Liffey? It has been doing a great job for the beer though.

Decisions, Decisions…we had to decide how we were going to get to the airport tomorrow morning. Our IrishRail package included round-trip tickets on public transport, but we need to be at the airport by 6 am. The buses don’t start up early enough. With that in mind, since we could not use the first portion, we took our tickets to the bus office. Ron, who perpetually looks innocent, told the young lady we needed a refund since we could not use the tickets. Technically this was a true statement. What he did not say was that when we arrived, we tried shoving these tickets into the validator, but since it was the wrong bus and had made so many attempts the driver told us to forget it and sit down. After she went off to ask someone one who may or may not have known more than she did, she forked over a twenty Euro note.

Still back to decisions, decisions how to get to the airport. Option 1: take a taxi for twenty-five to thirty Euros. I have nothing against taxi drivers; I drove a taxi for 2 years in Jamestown, NY. BUT, I really hate shelling out money needlessly. Option 2: take the first bus for 5.50 and hope we get to the airport before the check-in closes. Too chancy! There are security and Passport Control counters to pass. Never know how long the lines will be. Option 3: take the Paddy Wagon. Yes, we decided on option 3 for 4.50 Euros each.

With that weight off of our backs, we used the Hop On – Hop Off bus for city transportation. By now, we could have given the commentary ourselves. We went all the way to the 20th stop, which was the zoo in the park. With Ron’s Silver Surfer card, we received 2 for 1 admission saving 15 Euros. Really it only saved us 12 Euros due to a senior concession. Dublin Zoo was opened in 1831, still not huge, but really a magnificent place for animals if they have to be kept in a zoo environment. There were a number of different animals one would expect, but were not here. Those they did have, they had a good number of, like four rhinos that we spotted. We spent almost the entire day watching the animals, but sometimes more fun was watching the children react to the animals.

Before the day passed us by, I wanted to check some computer stores for MS Office 2010. It would have been easier to buy it here than have someone bring it to me from the US. I had concerns that here it would be British English, but they said it was changeable. The cost, however, was exorbitant. I can get a multiple computer license in the US for about 70% of the selling price here. However, although we found a number of bookstores with offers for cheaper books, Waterstones had their usual buy 2 get 1 free offers. With some quick calculations, already knowing the prices and discounts offered elsewhere, this was a better bargain.  We came home with 9 new books, 6 of which were newly on my list as of this trip. I hope they are worth the lugging home.

For the first time this trip, we went back to the hotel for a rest, but that only lasted less than an hour. We went out for dinner, but for a change we went to an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant, but getting there at 8 pm when they close at ten was not the best move. There was an apparent slowness in refilling the trays that were empty, but eventually they did.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a lovely old-fashioned looking pub with a young staff. We were 2 of the 4 people in the place and that continued until we left an hour later. I hope it survives the downturn.

It sounds kind of pathetic, but on the way back to the hotel, we bought Cheddar cheese, a rare or expensive commodity in Hungary. At either the Tesco or the specialty cheese shops, it will run about $10 a ½ pound.  We had it for snacks a couple of days, since we miss it so much. 

This was the end of our mini-vacation.

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