Doué la Fontaine zoo

On the weekend we wondered what to do with a precious day off together, Liz suggested that the Zoo at Doué la Fontaine was good. It's not what I'd normally think of doing in France but....she said it was really worth a trip, so off we went. Boy was it ever worthwhile. The zoo in Melbourne in Australia is marvelous but it doesn't have FLAMINGOES...I'd never seen them even though they are my sister's favourite animal. Here they are specially for you Thomsey. I don't know how they keep their colour in the zoo because it's shrimp and blue-green algae that keeps them pink in the wild.

There were also a couple of rhinoceros in a sensationally large enclosure.

Hornbills in a jungle of bamboo which so wonderfully cool on a hot day. The first one we've had for ages. All through the park were marvelous sculptures of animals carved in wood. Toward the end of the trail around the zoo we came across a guy carving a huge ostrich. Richard talked to him & discovered he was from Bali. It must have been quite a culture shock for him. He said the first time he came to France he got sick from no chillies & too much cheese. Evidently the guy who runs the zoo gets sculptors to come & stay for a couple of months while they add to the carvings in the park. We stayed & talked to Maday for ages & he was incredibly sweet. Telling us to come & visit him in Ubud if we ever came there. Next time we come to France we'll have him to dinner Chez Liz & provide all the chiilies he can eat.

We didn't bring Cheekee monkey to the zoo but we told him about his relatives....

And yes the green spotty dress did get an outing.......although with all the millefeuille we've been eating it's getting a little tight!!