For a gentle day out with a bit (but not too-much) walking and some interesting things to see we went to the local Zoo - the Parc de Lunaret in Montpellier. Getting there involved a typically frought few moments negotiating the insane road system of Montpellier but we arrived ding-free and slotted ourselves into what didn't seem like much of a car park. Montpellier is clearly taking the public transport thing seriously in this respect, reducing the real car-park and laying on frequent shuttle busses to link up with the tram network. How civilised.
The next surprise was that it was free - there was a little man on the gate who was not doing a lot, just giving out maps and guides, and the place seemed to be very well used by parents with young children who go there every week for a bit of a stroll. It's quite a nice spacious park on the edge of town and the animal enclosures all of civilised size. The lions (certainly the most exciting exhibit) had a lovely big space with plenty of vegetation and places to bask or lurk depending on mood. Similarly the "geopards" had loads of shady woodland to hide in and were rather hard to spot.
Some of the bigger animals seemed to rather missing - the rhinos were off having their dejourner and the kangaroos were similarly a no-show (though this didn't stop many small children arriving at the enclosure yelling "kangaroo" at the slightly bemused ostriches). Mouflon and other sheep-ish animals were a big feature - perfectly fine for kids but lacks the glamour of what you normally expect at a regular zoo - no seals or giraffes or elephants. But then again they are getting it right for the animals that they have got there and they all look quite contented.
It all rather goes with my current reading material, Life of Pi by Yann Martell - which poses the prospect of a zoo being (by misadventure) compressed into a 30-foot lifeboat adrift on the Pacific - not really big enough for an easy life for 4 animals and one human.
Jackie of course being bulgier than ever needed to use the facilities - which had a hygienic conveyor-belt action to remove the waste materials and had us both tickled so much so as to make a little video of it for your delectation.
