A Visit to the Zoo

I should close the loop on my last posting first. I gave some background about the CH name, but didn't necessarily address where the term "Switzerland" comes from. It derives from the town Schwyz, which is one of the original cantons (counties) in Switzerland. The term gradually was used to indicate the entire confederation.

Our adventure this week was to the big zoo in the city. Zoo Basel is supposedly world-renowned, and we had heard a lot of great things about it. We had a fun day visiting elephants, sea lions, rhinos, penguins and more. There is an aquarium that is part of the zoo as well. This was a special trip for us, because we had Landon as our tour guide. He had visited the zoo the day prior with his class, so he already knew the way around.

Landon's favorite was the sea lions, and Willem really liked the baby animals -- there was a 4-month old rhino named Henna that was as cute as it could be for weighing nearly a ton.

Our biggest laugh came from watching the hippos, who were just huge. We found out that one of the hippos' name was "Wilhelm der Grosse", or Big Willem! Our little Willem thought it was pretty funny that he had the same name.

The thing that I was most struck by was how close to the rest of the city the animals really were. For example, we could see trams and buses drive by, and you'll notice how close some buildings are from the pictures.

Our coming week in Switzerland will be without traditional Thanksgiving, but we'll be thinking of our friends and family in the US. The Christmas season starts in full swing here towards the end of the week, although it seems less about shopping and more about village Christmas bazaars and concerts. Nearly every village will have its own Weihnachtsmarkt or Christmas market, and the biggest of all in Basel. I'm curious to find out about glühwein, or hot mulled wine, which is served at the markets.  

Happy Thanksgiving!