The Antwerp Zoo!

Europe is awesome. 

We love traveling around to different cities and exploring the architecture and culture--

but I've got to be honest.

We try to do so much, that sometimes it kind of all blurs together!

So, we decided we needed a break from the usual palace/ cathedral/ monument tour for a weekend,

and we hit up the zoo!

This wasn't just any zoo, though.
(Remember when we went to the Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho? This was just a liiiitttle different.)

The Antwerp Zoo in Belgium is one of the oldest zoos in the WORLD.

it was built in 1843 for Pete's sake!! 

We knew Boston would love it, and we thought it would be a nice break for us too.

We packed up some lunches, bundled up, and headed to Antwerp to visit the famous zoo.

The selection of animals there was AWESOME.

There were a ton of different kinds of animals, and we were able to get right up close to them!

I don't know who loved it more, 

Boston or us! 

Caught these two necking...

And the creepiest animal award goes to...

(for real though- check out those buggy eyes!)

The elephants were probably my favorite part. 

We were seriously standing a few feet away from them, 

and they were playing around like crazy.

It was so fun to watch!

(Because lets be honest...usually the elephants at the zoo 

are just standing over a pile of poop, swatting at flies. This was way better!)

The giraffe exhibit was another favorite.

We could almost reach out and touch them!

At one point, one literally reached its neck over our heads to eat the leaves of the tree above us.

Is that cool or what??

Cutest baby award.

So, I may have lied earlier about my favorite parts of the zoo.

Because the time we spent in the penguin exhibit was definitely my favorite!!

Bost went absolutely nuts over the penguins, and he even made a little friend.

This one penguin kept swimming back to Boston and just hung out by him, 

and it was kind of the cutest thing ever.

Is that cool or what??

The penguins were definitely Boston's favorite part of the zoo.

The grounds of the zoo were immaculate. 

It was such a nice day to walk around in the green trees, and just take it easy.

I kept telling Jord how weird it was to hear all of the little kids 

running around speaking Flemish and French,

because it totally felt like we were at a regular American zoo.

It was trippy!

Favorite picture!

These two just melt my heart.

I love this cute little stinker!!

After we were done at the zoo, 

we wandered around Antwerp for a little while to see the city.

We didn't last too long though, before the little man was fast asleep.

(and we were ready for a nap, too!)

So we headed back to the train station, 

and made our way back to our little apartment in Brussels.

We had such a fun day at the zoo!

It was such a nice break from our usual go-go-go-weekend-travel-schedule.

We loved it!