Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!

Today was a little bit of an adventure, Jessica and I went to the Melbourne Zoo! We got to see animals of all kinds and I haven't been to a zoo in awhile, but I have never been so close to animals before without a lot of barrier between us. Of course with the lions, tigers, bears, and the hanging monkeys they were all in fenced in areas, but that's about it. We got to see animals from all over the world, some with relatives located everywhere including the Jersey Zoo and the San Francisco Zoo, closer to home for us. My favorites included seeing the gorillas laying in the sun, the elephants playing with water, and the giraffes standing right in front of me eating. The best part of the day though was definitely petting and taking pictures with the kangaroos. We got to have one-on-one time with the kangaroos and their trainers. We asked a ton of questions about the kangaroos, their eating habits, and about their joeys. It was so much fun! Just like the koala they are soft just like a teddy bear. It would've been hard to take one home with me, they wouldn't have fit in my purse!

Kangaroo that would fit in my purse!

After going to the zoo, we were both feeling a little homesick because we were missing the holiday season. We decided to stop by one of the largest (and very expensive) department stores in the city, called Myers. Just like in NYC, their windows were changed into a Christmas story. We took the 6 escalators to get to the Christmas section to look at ornaments/decorations and reminisced about our holiday traditions. We took a pit stop on our way home to the Chocolateria San Churro. A yummy shop that specializes in, you guessed it chocolate and churros. We ordered the "Hot & Cold Spanish Hot Chocolate" and some churros with milk chocolate dipping sauce and caramel dipping sauce. The "Hot & Cold" was the traditional Spanish Hot Chocolate, but with ice cream on top; that way we could enjoy hot chocolate but a little cooled down for the warm weather down under. Another tradition we usually do as the weather cools down in the USA. We were stuffed when we finished, and just like the penguins we saw earlier in the day, waddled our way back.