a day off

Nowhere to be today, we’re just staying in Anholz. We still get up at seven though, this is so ingrained that we usually wake up before the alarm goes off. We have a copious breakfast and try to take it really slow, but even so we’re done at half past eight. No problem, we pack the camera, a phone and a wallet in one of the bike bags and take the bikes to Biotopwildpark Anholter Schweiz, which should be open at nine. It’s only a ten minute ride, feels odd without the luggage..

Biotopwildpark is a fancy name to signify that this zoo only has animals that naturally occur in this region and they each have a large enclosure that suits their needs. The result looks more like a forest than a zoo and the walks between the different enclosures are quite pleasant. Rain was announced but never shows up, on the contrary it’s quite sunny at times, though not warm enough for just a tshirt.

We do the complete tour, sometimes tracking back to make sure we see everything from every possible point of view. The large enclosures make it a lot more difficult to actually see the animals, so sometimes you just have to walk around the whole thing and be patient.

the local cats:

the local water fowl:

the otters being playful:

these two look very similar, but are not:

we have lunch in the park and are back in the hotel around two. Kaffee und Kuchen (or in my case ‘hot chocolate’ und Kuchen) on the terrace, while I do lots of work on pictures and the blog. We set out around four for a walk around the castle grounds and follow the blue (longest) route. It starts raining about halfway but we’re prepared with rain jackets and headgear, so we happily walk on through the completely empty park. We walk around the many lakes and waterways, get lost in the maze and admire the elegant castle buildings from afar. We have a while before dinner, so we relax while it pours rain outside, hoping that it will be all spent by tomorrow morning.

Three days left to go, I feel like we’re just getting into it. Not sure how much kilometers we’re doing to do tomorrow, we do have the actual paper brochure now (got it for free at the tourist office in Ahaus) and we’re guessing seventy..