The Adventures of Kerri & Matt

Kerri wanted a hippopotamus for Christmas. Matt said he wouldn’t fit in the bathtub. Kerri said we should get a place with a bigger bathtub. Matt said they are too big. Kerri said we could get a pygmy one. Matt said those aren’t much smaller. So we went to the Zagreb zoo to check.

They are much smaller than regular hippopotamuses.

But they spray their poo like big hippopotamuses. This convinced Kerri that we can just visit the hippopotamuses.

The hippopotamus was very happy to see us but it was hard tot take pictures through the dirty glass.

Matt closely investigated a giant slug.

 

 

Kerri played hide and go seek with a chameleon.

This ugly guy is a Sudanese spiny tailed lizard.

This guy is cute even though he’s not furry.

This guy is furry even though he’s not cute.

This is a Suriname toad.

He is very skinny.

This guy is both furry and cute.

He is called an elephant shrew. Because he’s got a furry little trunk.

This super cute baby gibbon is only 6 months old.

He is super cute so that Dad won’t kill him when he does this.

But he will get angry.

This lizard is watching you.

This capybara is also watching you, but he’s sleepier.

Even owls stand on one leg sometimes.

The lions in zoos seem so big and fat compared to the wild ones in Africa.

The manes on the males are also much fuller.

This is a snapping turtle.

He has an ugly face to camouflage. He wiggles his tongue to attract fish and then snaps them.

 

Matt tried to leave Kerri at the zoo. And not even in the pygmy hippopotamus enclosure.

Here is the Zagreb cathedral under construction.

This is not surprising as it is continually under construction because the stone they use is very soft and so by the time they fix it in parts the older repairs need to be re-repaired.

See all the pitting. The faces have been replaced several times.

They had a very extensive nativity inside.

Here’s the city of Zagreb. Way off in the distance you can see the old centre of the city with the church.

We got a good deal on the hotel and mistakenly did not realize it was not near the centre, but rather a 25 minute walk.

It was cold out but very Christmasy still.

There may have not been snow but they covered the trees with fake snow.

This graffiti covered ball was installed as art representing the sun.

Another artist decided that wasn’t good enough so he installed the rest of the solar system to scale.

Mercury is so small Matt can’t find it even when he’s standing right next to it.

He does a bit better on Venus.

This is Kerri on Earth.

By the time we get to Mars Matt is doing really good.

At this point we were quite cold and the outer solar system is a long walk in the winter. We decided to come back with the car after Christmas. Then we changed our mind and took the ferry to Italy. So we never got to see the rest of the solar system.