The Path to adventure awaits!

As I hailed a cab right around the corner from Christchurch Cathedral, I wondered to myself if the trip to Dublin Zoo today was still a good idea considering the cloudy weather. As I stepped into the cab, I tried to make conversation with the driver. “Weather sure looks bad,” I said, although with a more explicit adjective. The cab driver did not respond to my comment, and so what followed was nearly fifteen minutes of uninterrupted silence as I rode through the streets of Dublin. Despite the awkward start to the day, I got to the Zoo in a timely manner.

A cute quote to start the trip!

As I passed through the ticket gate (They take 5 Euro off if you are a student!), I was greeted with multiple footpaths around a center lake. With my luck, I took the one footpath that had a golf cart coming from the other direction with an entire cart train of cut branches being towed behind. After stopping for a second to let the cart pass, my journey continued into the main sections of the zoo.

Such a majestic creature!

The first stop was the sea lions; they were absolutely adorable! The pool where they resided had both above ground and underwater views for the creatures, so I had the ability to see their swimming maneuvers from multiple angles. Their enclosure was also big enough for them to swim at relatively fast speeds, so they would dart underwater and pop up on the other end of the pool and give a little “wave” to visitors. After a few passes and a farewell wave by both me and the sea lions, I was off to the next exhibit.

For these turtles, it’s always siesta time!

Red Pandas were the next animal along the way, and like most other animals at the zoo they were up in a tree and fast asleep. The leopard in the enclosure right next to the pandas crunched on whatever the zookeeper had given it for lunch. Along the paths there were imprints of the animals’ paw prints in the concrete outside of the corresponding animal’s exhibit, which I found very useful and creative. Sometimes I would turn down a path and it would be empty, and other times it would be filled with either a school tour group or a couple admiring both the animals and each other.

Oh, why hello there!

As I continued my walk around the zoo, the weather became more and more ominous. To add to the unsettling vibe, I turned a corner and came within twenty feet of a free-roaming peacock. As I came to a complete stop, the peacock darted over to my location, only stopping within three inches of my leg. It turned out to be harmless, but the surprise left my heart racing a little.

Fall landscapes covered much of the park!

Eventually, the rain came down. I stopped on the benches outside the main entrance overlooking the pond. I reminisced on the animals I had seen and the nature that lay before me. And so, with the droplets of rain slowly picking up, I walked out of the gates and onto my next adventure.