Going to See the Polar Bears (try 2)

Waking up early in the morning is hard. Waking up early in the morning after hiking all day yesterday and getting back late is really hard. However, if you know there's going to be a brass ensemble at the church service you're waking up for AND waking up before everyone else means you get an actually hot shower, it's almost worth it. (No, I am no longer a morning person)

Since we were all so tired from yesterday's excursion, we decided to take it easy today. Destination: park. Goal: relax. After meeting up with the later risers, we enjoyed some late breakfast-lunchy food in front of a (different) brass ensemble. Apparently Stuttgart is a major jazz city.

The brass ensemble sounded amazing

I guess when I walked around the park last Sunday, I sort of didn't pay too much attention to how far apart everything was. I mean there's the first park, where we saw some really cute little ducklings, and then over a suspension bridge to a slightly larger park- with a river. Then another bridge which will eventually deposit you by the main station. (but not until 2021)

Following that, a rather long stretch of park. This bit is large enough to have some interesting attractions for the easily bored - like cafes and restaurants, playgrounds (with seesaws! and swings!), and giant chess boards. (comes complete with ALL the pieces AND free unsolicited advice from old Germans who have nothing better to do than critique your chess playing non-ability) ((We totally didn't even lose though - after a rather horrific blood bath of pieces we ended up stalemating with only the kings left on the board!))

 Our eventual goal however was the zoo, so we had to keep going... and going.... and going. Unfortunately from the direction we were coming, the entrance was at the further end of the zoo from us. Fortunately, parts of the zoo border along the park, so we could (attempt to) identify the animals as we walked toward the entrance.

Unlike in America, the zoos here aren't free entry or cheap. For an adult it was 14.00! For a student, it was 7, so we were at least considering it. However, because we couldn't prove we were CURRENTLY studying, our student IDs didn't give us any student discount. Since we actually are students (and broke/cheap) we decided to come back later with verification of our summer student status.

Unable to see polar bears, we consoled ourselves with some nice slices of cake- rhubarb, plum and apple. (separate, not all together). Eating them put all of us into a bit of a food coma. Or maybe that was all the hiking yesterday. Either way, we all just sort of sat down. And then didn't get up. For an hour. Luckily, that's not weird in Germany.