Antwerp Zoo

This week, me and the girls spent a few days at oma's.
The girls enjoying breakfast at oma's

Oma treated us to a trip to the Antwerp Zoo. The Antwerp Zoo was founded in 1834 and is one of the oldest zoo's in the world. In 1983, the zoo became a national monument, thanks to its beautiful old buildings.
Zoo entrance
To the occasion of baby elephant Kai-Mook's first birthay, there is a very pretty decorated elephant exhibition in the Antwerp Zoo

When I was little, we only lived 25 km from Antwerp, so we visited the zoo regularly. Back then, the zoo was rather old (fashioned) and not exactly known for it's animal friendly living quarters. But as a child, one doesn't really see that. Fortunately, the zoo has invested quite a bit into improving the facilities for the animals (and for the visitors) and although it's still a very small park, it's a lot nicer to visit now. Its small size is mainly due to the fact that the park is located in the centre of the city of Antwerp, next to the central train station. Which does make it very convenient to go to the zoo by train.
Antwerp Central Station is not nearly as big as Grand Central Station in NY city, but it's still a beautiful old building

On a less happy note: oma is in the hospital. She fell in the dressing room of the swimming pool and broke three ribs. At the age of 79, that's a rather serious injury, so she'll be in the hospital for 'at least a couple of days'. We all hope that her good health and strong constitution will help her recover quickly back to her own independent self.