Day One 11/24/2011:
What a day! My 35 day adventure around the world to explore the best zoos and animal themed parks the world has to offer is officially underway. I almost wish I had more time, but with work and everything, 35 days was all I and the wife could afford and to schedule. At least the holidays are on our side in order to take the time off.
We woke up at 5 am as usual this morning and hopped into our Fit. The wife insisted we load the car with our baggage last night and I'm glad she did. After a shower and a shave, we drove through McD's for a breakfast on the road and headed towards Atlanta, GA and the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta just a couple blocks off of I-75/I-85. It was a simple 2 1/2 hour drive from our house and we arrived just after they opened at 9 am (EST).
With our flight leaving the Atlanta Airport later in the early evening, we had pretty much all day to explore the Aquarium and what sights! I can't make up my mind if I liked the Ocean Voyager or Georgia Explore exhibit the best. I've always found zoos and aquariums to be fascinating places. I mean here we are in the conjunction of the Appalachian foothills and the southern edge of the Piedmont far from any coast, yet in front of us, in this immense aquarium is swimming Whale Sharks and Manta Rays from the tropical south Pacific Ocean. Anyway, I can see why this is considered one of the best Aquariums in the US and in the world.
We left the Aquarium around 3pm to arrive in plenty of time for our flight, leaving our Fit in the long-term parking lot, we shuttled to the airport and caught our 6:40 flight on Delta to LaGuardia airport. We're staying in the LaGuardia Airport Hotel tonight and tomorrow night and seemed sensible since we're flying out of here to Brazil and it's only about 5 miles from the Brooklyn Zoo. It's late however, just after midnight and I am ready to crash. Busy day and we've just begun!
Day Two 11/25/2011:
The Brooklyn Zoo, more properly known as Prospect Park Zoo, is considered a premiere zoo in the US. Depending on which web site you vist or who's review you pay more attention to, this zoo consisently ranks in the top 5 if not top 3 zoos that the US has to offer. It was a $30 cab fare from the hotel to get to the zoo and another $30 to get back. All of those movies and tv shows featuring NYC taxi drivers? Stereotypical, but true lol. Our first cabbie was a Brooklyn native who told us all about the good old days and the streets of New York, while our driver back was from India and barely spoke a word of English - but was excited to hear how we would be traveling later in a few days to his home country. It's an amazingly small world after all.
While we were at the zoo, we lucked out and saw the Pallas Cats out and about. Normally a nocturnal hunter from central Asia, they almost became extinct due to hunting for their soft fur. What beautiful fur they have too! Anyway, the family lounged about and played some and were quite entertaining. The Sea Lion court exhibit - considered one of the best exhibits in the world was also fabalous and gave us quite a show. Because we wanted to see some of New York's night life, we went back to the hotel and changed and took our trip to Broadway. I suprised my wife having bought tickets in advance to Sister Act. It was playing at the Broadway Theater (literally was the name of the place lol) just a couple blocks south of Central Park. Yes we did the romantic horse buggy ride and the show was phenomenal - if a bit expensive. We had cheap seats and it still cost me $120 for the both of us.
It's 2 am now and I am exhausted. Our flight leaves at 3:30pm tomorrow for Rio De Janiero, Brazil and we need to be checked out by 11. Time for some sleep.
