Zoom Torino

Wednesday was a heavy day of thunderstorms in our area.  We debated going grocery shopping on a warmer or cooler day, and finally opted for the cooler choice not only for our sakes in our A/C-less van, but for the groceries as well.  Little did we think that we would arrive home drenched to the core.  Wish I took a picture of us all--we were a soggy lot!  We just chalked it up as our morning shower.

Thursday was a gorgeous morning with clear blue skies and clear view of the Alps.  Needless to say the day after a heavy rain is a wonderful thing!  We thought it was a good day to get out for some exploration.  For our family fun day this week we decided to head to the Torino Zoom Park.  It is the closest thing to a zoo here, but considered a biopark where the animals are in larger and natural surroundings.  So you won't find anything caged.  That means there are less animals to see, but you can definitely get closer look at the animals.  You can even buy entrance too a beach and pool area where you can swim alongside penguins!  Maybe next time we'll splurge for that.  The pool was hidden from view so the kids didn't really pick up that there was one.  Although maybe they wondered why everyone was walking around in their bathing suits.    

 Set and ready to see the animals!

 Meerkats

 Emma's favorite animal of the day, the pony.

 Samuel's favorite animal of the day, the owl.

There was a show featuring birds that we saw.  It was definitely our highlight of the day!  The audience was in an amphitheater and they had a wide variety of birds that swept over the heads of the audience as they were called back and forth from their trainers.  We saw several owls, hawks, eagles, crows and vultures.  We were instructed to keep our food tucked away and purses close as some of the scavenger birds have stolen bags from the audience before.  The show was amazing and very fun to watch birds catching food in the air.  Watch the video clip below to see what I am talking about.

 This guy landed right behind our heads on the wall.  You literally had to duck as he flew over you.

 Vulture

 Learning about tigers while getting a better view from Dada's shoulders.

 He just got out of his bath.

 Bridge walk to see cranes, ducks, deer and monkeys.

 Monkey island. (Love those clouds)

 Luca's favorite animal..."the mammal."  I think he got confused from his book "Is a Camel a Mammal?"  He fed them leaves and loved to pet them.

 I know this is a nature park, but really would this fence hold up to the weight of a camel if he really wanted to get over it?

 No fear or intimidation in this boy!

 The closest thing to seeing a giraffe.

 A wonderful play area with slides, zipline, swings and more...

 Luca enjoyed swinging us is this giant hammock type swing.

 Peguins from South Africa.

A very fun day to be had by all!

The zipline was quite thrilling for our kids.  That is once they got the hang of how to jump and sit on the seat.  Luca didn't quite master it, but was quite content to just hang on with sheer upper body strength. He could have cared less to do it right, as long as he was doing it ALL by himself.  You'll see him in the video clip below.