Karlsruhe Zoo
June 28, 2006 at 15:48 We’ve been to zoos in New York, Maine, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., but I can say without hesitation that my favorite zoo is here in Karlsruhe.
Located across from our hotel, it includes the standard collection of zoo animals but is distinguished by its extensive gardens and meticulously groomed grounds. We spent nearly seven hours checking out the animals and wandering the tree-lined avenues, wisteria tunnels, and cobblestone paths. A canal connects two ponds on either end of the park, and we took a boat ride through the gardens, our boat trailed by enormous gray carp with round vacant eyes and pink crescent mouths opened and begging for bread. The ducks crisscrossed in front of the boat, the little ones irresistibly fuzzy and cute.
There was a huge rose garden with lavender planted between the rosebushes. Peach, yellow, coral, pink, white, and red roses, damp from a morning shower, were a sensual feast. Every time the breeze slipped through the garden, the scent would rise like magic and perfume the air. Benches and chaise lounges punctuated the landscape, inviting people to linger. The sprawling lawns drew a few sunbathers. The kids loved the Japanese garden with its stone temples, falling water, and stepping stones crossing small pools. The daylilies reminded me of home.
The park included multiple playgrounds. The playgrounds in Europe are outstanding. In the U.S. safety concerns and fear of liability have reduced the number and quality of playgrounds They all seem to be the same red and yellow configurations of curly slides and low platforms. U.S. equipment doesn’t offer much of a challenge for older children. Here big kids can enjoy balance boards, merry-go-rounds, climbing pyramids, awe-inducing slides, rope courses, climb and glides, and lots of sand. It’s little nerve-wracking for overprotective moms, but the kids gain so much confidence.
As my kids scaled an enormous rope pyramid, a disabled boy visiting the playground came and sat beside me on the bench. He appeared to be about nine, the same age as E-Grrrl, with medium brown hair and blue eyes fringed with dark lashes. I think he had cerebral palsy.
He came and sat quite close to me, his face open and inquiring. I turned to acknowledge his presence with eye contact and a big smile. He wasn’t able to speak but gently touched my shoulder to get my attention and then began pointing to things on the playground. He touched his own chest. He pointed to me. He pointed to items surrounding us.
I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say, and I didn’t want to confuse him by addressing him in English, and so I reached into my vast German vocabulary of ten words and came up with the perfect response to his friendly overtures: Gut. The German word for “good.”
He pointed, I smiled, acknowledged what he was looking at, and described it as “good.”
And it was. This boy, perfect in his imperfections. This day, which began with a thunderstorm and turned sunny and pleasantly warm. Above all, this place and time. This connection between people from different generations, different parts of the world, different ways of seeing and being.
Separated by so much and yet so little, the boy and I agreed, we smiled, we touched each other’s shoulders. For us the world is “sehr gut” indeed.
June 28, 2006
Germany
Reader Comments (3)
But then I suspected the author of that first post wasn't really you...
As Mignon wisely commented on an earlier post, the more you step outside your comfort zone, the bigger that zone becomes. Those are words I must repeat to myself often!