A trip to the Prague Zoo

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Friday of the Street Prophets: A Trip to the Prague Zoo

May 27, 2022 1:07 p.m. PDT

by Marko the werelynx,

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Greetings and welcome to another hairy little slice of life diary. My furry little life to be exact and this week’s installment comes from a trip I took to Prague Zoo last weekend. As usual, I’m just starting an open community thread with my nonsense. Go in and don’t tap the glass.

Last weekend was very special. I met my two nephews from Belgium for the first time. I was nervous about getting to know them for some reason, mostly worried that the language barrier would be difficult to overcome and that they would just be shy and quiet around their furry big uncle. It certainly was at first. My wife did something slightly brilliant, she bought each of the boys a Lego car to put together. The kits were labeled for ages 7 and up which made them challenging, but doable for a couple of 7 year olds. And when they arrived at our apartment, each nephew took a box and opened it and their father (my brother-in-law) helped them open the bags and throw the coins on the floor. And the guys worked quietly for a while, with their backs to the room full of strange relatives. Their father would drop by from time to time and sit down to lend a hand when needed.And then something happened that I had only heard rumors about. They discovered that a piece was missing from one of the Lego kits.My sons to the rescue and one of their large boxes of assorted Lego pieces was thrown on their bedroom floor and I sat down to help one of my sons and my nephews dig through the pile and find a suitable replacement for the missing part. The piece found, the half-finished car in the other room forgotten in the joy of discovering all the crazy little minifigures and oddly shaped pieces from a decade of Lego collecting. My son was gathering the pieces to put together a dragon that had been dismembered for a dozen years and his little cousins were gathering and assembling the disjointed pieces of a small army of tiny Legos. I helped dig into the pile and found myself being attacked by Star Wars characters and sleazy Atlanteans and bearded pirates. About a dozen words of their meager supply of English along with my atrophied, possibly mummified, 6th grade French and the snippets of fresher French I picked up along the freeway went a long way toward creating a lot of hilarity in the midst of a furious battle.And just like that, we were friends.After lunch we went to the zoo and spent the rest of the day seeing as many exhibits as possible.

My best photo of the orangutans this time. None of the great apes were hanging out near the glass, it seemed.

Prague Zoo is well known for its conservation efforts and continuous improvements to its animal enclosures. With my entry fee of around US$12 and Fabulous-Mother-In-Law for around five cents, we’ll probably be back soon. Too bad my nephews had to come home on Monday. It was great fun to finally get to know them.Thanks for dropping by.This is an open thread.