We’ve pretty well established that this city is expensive – but this weekend we found something family-friendly and cheap.  The zoo!  That’s right, for a family of three it cost us about $1.82 US.  It’s right in the city center in this very cool park they’ve named Central Park (wonder where they got that idea).  On Saturday we went with another American family who have three kids under 5, and we had a great time.  We packed a picnic, hopped on the bus and metro, and walked for hours in the beautiful spring weather looking at lions and tigers and bears, oh my.  The zoo was a little  – how shall we say – up close and personal.  For many of the animals there was nothing but a chain-link fence between us and them.  A lot of the big animals were in far too small a space for their own good, but we heard a tiger roar and an elephant…  make an elephant sound.  What do you call that, anyway?  Either way, it was great fun.

Then, right next to the park, there was a quaint little amusement park full of rides.  Most of them were the spin-n-puke variety, but we did have fun walking around.  Kabob went on his first ferris wheel, and Chickpea went on her first roller coaster.  Yep, you read that right.  Kabob took Chickpea on the caterpillar-shaped kiddie roller coaster, and she had a BLAST.  It was hilarious.  They sat in the front car, and you could barely see her; she had her paci, too, which almost looked wrong.  What’s that tall guy doing taking a baby on a roller coaster?  The ride went around three times, and Kabob said by the second round she was fake screaming when they went through the giant apple.  She held her hands in the air, too.  Yep, that’s our adrenaline junkie.

We took a few photos of the day, and they’re up on Flickr.  You can’t really see her on the roller coaster because she’s so short, so just assume she’s sitting next to her daddy.  Next time, I’ll have her sit on the other side so she’ll be closer to the camera.

posted: 07 April 15
under: family