A relaxing day at the zoo

Today I decided to take the girls to the zoo. It is within a 2 mile walking distance but it feels like 4 miles with the girls. I mistakingly assumed that the road to the zoo would be paved. Silly me. To get there we had to walk across a bridge that was over a part of the river where water was gushing under us. The girls did not want to walk across it because the bottom was made up of wood (like a deck) and they could see through the cracks. They piled in the umbrella stroller to get across the bridge. The next part was gravel, puddles and horse poo! It was messy. We finally got to the zoo just in time for the rain to start. We saw some monkeys that looked like they were starving and a playground before running to see the seal feeding. Naomi got pushed out of the way by some kids. I looked to see who was in charge of them but did not see anyone until I told Naomi to go ahead and push them back. I guess their teacher(?) heard me and came over speaking English and told me, "They are not trying to be mean, they can't help it...blah...blah". It seems common for German school teachers to take a group of kids out with a ratio of 1 teacher to 25 kids. I have seen it a couple of times. There will be a hoard of children and one adult seemingly, kind of keeping a slight eye on them. It started to rain soon after Naomi could see again.

I waited a little while to see if the rain let up a little but it didn't. We headed home through the gravel, puddles and horse poo in the rain. I was pretty grumpy by the time I reached the hotel after carrying 30lbs and pushing another 40lbs in a crapy stroller. We headed down to the lounge, normally our place of refuge. We get free pepsi (cost 2,50Euro) there so you can understand why I love it. The girls were spinning and making themselves dizzy and Fiona fell. She screamed and started bleeding. The "helpful" hotel staff gave her a chocolate and then left the room?????? I took her back to the room and tried to make a decision on what to do next. I freaked out a little. The cut wasn't that big of a concern but just not having a car, not knowing where a doctor's office would be, and not being able to contact David just got to me a bit. When I asked the reception about a doctor's clinic she said she thinks there is one two blocks away. It surprised me that she was not that concerned. In the U.S. if a child hurt themselves on hotel property they would be going out of their way to make sure the kid was okay. I'm not saying that's right, I'm just not used to the difference. I took the girls, bleeding and all, to look for the doctor's office. I could not find it so I went into the tourist information office for help. The woman said, "Why isn't she crying then?" I started explaining that it had been a while since it happen, and how she can't see it because it's on her chin. I stopped and finally said, "Why am I explaining this to you??" It seemed ridiculous to me. I mean, I'm not saying it was an emergency, I just wanted to know if she needed a stitch. It just seemed like I could not get anyone to just be nice and help me. I left pissed off and headed back to the pharmacy (who had given me directions a few minutes ago) to get some stuff for her booboo. Somewhere in between all of this I managed to buy an overpriced fleece jacket for Fiona because I had left the hotel without her jacket and she was freezing.

I came back to the hotel and vented my frustration with a big cry. Anyone who has dragged two children anywhere can understand. Imagine dragging them through a frogger game like traffic pattern in which you don't understand where to go. That is kinda how I felt today. I think it was a combination of not being able to communicate mixed with having no one to commiserate with me.

I know I am a big whiner. Her cut is fine. I feel better and tomorrow is another adventure.