The "Last-Chance Saloon" Tour of a Tea-Loving Dave - 2018

Over the last nine months or so, it might have been noticed that I have made occasional reference to a planned trip to the Continent which I was viewing as something of a "last chance saloon" tour of various unusual species present within western Europe - and more recently, that these references have now been in the past tense.

When planning this trip - or rather, as I will detail anon, pair of trips - I always intended to write a thread discussing my thoughts and feelings on those collections which I visited, as well as covering the other aspects of the trip. Naturally, to avoid hitting the roadblocks which have thus far stymied my hopes to complete my thread discussing the 2015 trip to Bavaria - let alone start writing about either of my subsequent trips to Lower Saxony and the Czech Republic - this thread will take a rather different format to previous ones; rather than long-form walkthrough discussions of each zoological collection visited, I aim to provide overall summaries over the course of a single post per collection, along with posts discussing our other activities.

The first post proper will cover the backstory to this zoo tour, but beforehand it seems prudent to provide a contents page for this thread by presenting a general summary of the "Last-Chance Saloon" trip - to wit, what collections will be discussed within this thread and when they were visited:

05/02/2018 - Arrival into Amsterdam
06/02/2018 - Duisburg / Krefeld
07/02/2018 - Burgers Zoo
08/02/2018 - Artis
09/02/2018 - Diergaarde Blijdorp
10/02/2018 - Antwerp Zoo
11/02/2018 - BestZoo / Zie-Zoo
12/02/2018 - DierenPark Amersfoort
13/02/2018 - Departure from Amsterdam

----

17/04/2018 - Arrival into Koln
18/04/2018 - Zoo Dortmund
19/04/2018 - Aachener Tierpark / Aachen Cathedral
20/04/2018 - Zoo Wuppertal
21/04/2018 - Zoo Frankfurt
22/04/2018 - Dusseldorf Aquazoo / TerraZoo Rheinberg / Wildpark Grafenberger Wald
23/04/2018 - Zoo Koln
24/04/2018 - Departure from Koln

One suspects that it will be possible to guess what a lot of my "Last-Chance Saloon" targets were by reading the above list

 

I can confirm they've improved their food somewhat since 2010! (Well, it looked better than this). Got a picture on my laptop that I can upload later

 

Here is the Duisburg fare as of May 1st 2018, from the shack near the Delfinarium. Bratwurst in front, Currywurst behind. It tasted fine, honest

 

Part I: The Seeds Germinate

Where to start?

One of the main seeds of this trip were sown in June 2017; whilst stood in Prague airport with Helly and our "usual" travelling companions for continental city visits (her parents, aunt and a family friend) the conversation turned inevitably onto the subject of where we could visit the following year. Claire - the aforementioned family friend - was rather taken with the idea of visiting Krakow in southeast Poland; somewhere which would certainly be interesting to visit on a cultural level but which would be somewhat troublesome when it came to visiting zoological collections, given the fact that it is quite distant from those Polish collections which would be my priority in such circumstances. Moreover, although quite close to both the Czech Republic and Slovakia, opening the door to visiting collections in these countries as daytrips from Poland would introduce the issue of having to juggle three different currencies - the Euro in Slovakia, the Koruna in the Czech Republic and the Złoty in Poland. As such, although I was nonetheless open to the idea of visiting Poland in 2018 I put another idea on the table - to visit western Germany, more precisely North Rhine-Westphalia, taking advantage of the fact that there are regular direct flights from Newcastle to Dusseldorf. This would allow me to not only visit various collections in the Ruhr and surrounding area, but also to indulge my deep interest in medieval history by visiting the city of Aachen - not only the seat of Charlemagne, first Holy Roman Emperor, but also the site of his burial within the historic cathedral built at his command.

Over the following few months, with much discussion and consideration of Krokow, Köln and Dresden as potential destinations, along with Amsterdam or a return to Berlin, the decision was made; we would visit Köln, flying into Dusseldorf and staying for a week. However, other seeds were germinating........

To put it quite frankly, on a personal level 2017 was quite terrible as years go between my paternal grandmother passing away in April 2017, our cat passing away in June 2017 - quite literally two days after our return from the Czech Republic - and Helly starting to find low-level stress and anxiety opening the door to depression once again, as the year drew to a close we were increasingly eager to see it come to an end. I started mulling over the idea of trying to make the most of 2018 and ensure we enjoyed ourselves as much as possible. These thoughts were solidified further by my maternal grandmother - who had been in poor health for some years - rapidly declining over the course of the autumn. Then, whilst visiting the Chestnut Centre in late November, I received a text from my brother letting me know that she was in her final hours; something which I must admit struck me as darkly ironic, given the fact I was visiting a zoological collection which itself was on its deathbed when I received the news. A few hours later came the inevitable phonecall.

A week or so after the funeral, I started giving serious thought to the idea of really making the most of the coming year, and moreover considering the fact that - with the ease of travelling to the continent being a much-more unknown quantity in the future given the idiotic actions of my own country - it would also be worthwhile making the most of being able to travel with ease within the European Union. As it happened, we had already been vaguely planning to visit *somewhere* for Helly's birthday in late January - perhaps Devon once again, or Scotland - but between everything going on with our lives and the ridiculous cost of travelling within the UK we hadn't gotten around to booking anything. On a whim, and partially provoked by the fact that we had always said our first solo trip to the continent should be to the Low Countries, I looked online to see how expensive flights to Amsterdam and accommodation once there would be. Within 24 hours, and with very little discussion between us needed, we had decided to go for it. Soon after, we had booked flights to Amsterdam in early February - flights and accommodation both being slightly cheaper then, when compared with a week or two prior - and could start actively planning our itinerary for the trip.

Prior to this snap decision, we naturally had been planning our upcoming visit to Köln and the surrounding area - but given our burgeoning desire to make the most of the year, we had started to consider it a de-facto "Last Chance Saloon" tour given the fact that the collections within this area would hopefully allow us to see species such as Orinoco Dolphin, Douc Langur and Mountain Anoa. As such, by this point we had decided that although it would require a little travel and some early mornings, we would travel to Antwerp (for the Eastern Gorilla) and Arnhem (for the Ringtails, Ringed Seals and Anhinga) whilst staying in Köln, discarding one or two more local collections from our plans in the process. The initial plan, therefore, was to visit Krefeld, Duisburg, Köln, Arnhem, Antwerp, Wuppertal and Aachen. Our decision to visit the Low Countries, however, presented us with an opportunity - not only could we visit these two collections a little sooner and with rather less travel time and cost, allowing us to add more collections to the NRW trip, but by reversing our initial logic and including Duisburg and Krefeld in the Low Country trip we would have three "spare" days in North Rhine-Westphalia rather than two! Combined with the fact that (even including a daytrip to Germany) our trip to the Low Countries would allow us to pick up even MORE last chance species, we started to officially consider this our Last Chance Saloon Tour (In Two Parts)

Over the course of the following few weeks, and with the assistance of various Zoochatters both within the UK and on the Continent familiar with the Low Countries, we started to hash out which collections we would visit in February; the refinement of our plans for the Rhineland could wait for now. The inclusion of Artis and Diergaarde Blijdorp was obvious, and we had already decided on trips to Arnhem, Antwerp and the Ruhr, but where else? Collections such as Apenheul and Dolfinarium Harderwijk were ruled out on the grounds that neither would be open at the time of our visit - the latter reopening for the year only days after we would return to the UK - whilst collections such as Zie-Zoo, Gaiazoo and Overloon were dismissed due to issues of accessibility by public transport. Collections such as BestZoo and de Paay were dismissed with some level of regret on the grounds that, although containing treasures such as Spotted Skunk and Lesser Grison respectively and not difficult to reach by public transport, they were too small to merit visiting alone and tricky to visit alongside another collection. Ouwehands was included in the plans due to the presence of Spectral Tarsier and Spotted Cuscus; Amersfoort was included after much debate over whether it would be better to visit here, or Vogelpark Avifauna, on the basis that a chance at Tammar Wallaby and Feathertail Glider (two species which had long-eluded us) was worth the fact that we had been given to understand it was otherwise of little interest. Artisklas was included on the grounds that it would be a relatively easy hop from Artis, the prospect of finally seeing an American Mink, and the fact that I've always felt it is interesting to visit the small places which no one ever talks about. We didn't consider including Wildlands Emmen for the slightest moment

As such, we decided on the following itinerary:

05/02/2018 - Arrival into Amsterdam
06/02/2018 - Duisburg / Krefeld
07/02/2018 - Ouwehands Dierenpark
08/02/2018 - Burgers Zoo
09/02/2018 - Diergaarde Blijdorp
10/02/2018 - Antwerp Zoo
11/02/2018 - Artis / Artisklas
12/02/2018 - DierenPark Amersfoort
13/02/2018 - Departure from Amsterdam

Of course, the downside to partially planning a trip around last-chance species is that...well.... sometimes your chances run out as such we watched the news threads discussing the various collections planned with some level of anxiety. Every time someone posted in the Duisburg news thread, we wondered - as so many before us have - whether we were about to learn Baby had died. We felt similar pangs when checking the threads discussing Krefeld, Burgers, Ouwehands and Antwerp. Not unexpectedly, the other shoe did eventually drop. Or rather, the tarsier dropped. This led us to some interesting questions..... did we really want to visit Ouwehands for merely a single Spotted Cuscus when otherwise visiting the collection didn't much interest us? If we decided to scrap Ouwehands, which collection would we replace it with? Given the fact we had planned to visit Ouwehands that early in the trip solely to allow the best possible chance of making it there in time (also the reason, incidentally, that Duisburg was the first collection on the itinerary), would it be worth shuffling the order in which we visited other collections? Initially, the logical choice for a substitute was Vogelpark Avifauna.... but then one of our correspondents in trip-planning, @Mr. Zootycoon , suggested that we visit BestZoo and Zie-Zoo in a single day; unfeasible by public transport but very much feasible if - as he offered - one has a lift between the two collections. As it happened, we had already made plans to meet up with him at Burgers along with @korhoen , so the prospect of not only seeing two more collections with him, but collections we had previously ruled out with a heavy heart, was an appealing one. We also made arrangements, over the course of the next month or so, to meet up with other Zoochatters whilst in the Low Countries - as I will relate in due time

So, as the day of our flight to Amsterdam approached, our itinerary was seemingly fixed:

05/02/2018 - Arrival into Amsterdam
06/02/2018 - Duisburg / Krefeld
07/02/2018 - Burgers Zoo
08/02/2018 - BestZoo / Zie-Zoo
09/02/2018 - Diergaarde Blijdorp
10/02/2018 - Antwerp Zoo
11/02/2018 - Artis / Artisklas
12/02/2018 - DierenPark Amersfoort
13/02/2018 - Departure from Amsterdam

I say seemingly, because plans can and *did* change.... but more on that anon.

(Coming up: Arrival And First Impressions)

 

Part II: Arrival And First Impressions

By the evening before our flight to Amsterdam, we were feeling a little anxious as one can imagine - but also very excited and looking forward to the week to come. As chance would have it, we had the ideal solution to our anxiety at hand; attending an Erasure concert in Newcastle something which we very much enjoyed, and which helped to take our minds off the fact that we would be travelling solo within a little over 12 hours.

But soon enough the moment of truth came; our flight was direct from Newcastle Airport - only a 15 minute journey on the T&W Metro - to Schiphol Airport in the south of Amsterdam, and was scheduled for 13:45, so we were able to get plenty of sleep and still have time in the morning to make a few last-minute checks to ensure we had packed everything we would require. The weather forecast for the coming week in the Netherlands was dry, but extremely cold; as such a rather substantial portion of our luggage was taken up by warm clothing! The process of checking-in at the airport and dealing with our hold luggage was easy enough, as we had found during previous trips when we were travelling in a group, and the flight itself was both quick - at marginally over an hour - and comfortable. Before we knew it, we were in the Netherlands!

The first order of business on arrival at Schipol, after collecting our luggage, was to make our way to the airport train station, get to grips with the Dutch ticket machines for the first time, and locate the next train running to Amsterdam Centraal. The second of these tasks was made a little more tricky by the fact it was apparent that the machines in question only accepted exact payment - given the fact we had only just arrived and as such only had banknotes and very little small change, we had to use one of our debit cards; fortunately the machine accepted UK bank cards, and we were able to get our tickets and make our way to the train platforms. As we reached the bottom of the escalator, a train to Centraal was pulling into the platform immediately to our right - a stroke of luck, and one which meant we were able to continue our journey straight away! The journey into the city centre took only 10 minutes or so, and soon enough we arrived at Amsterdam Centraal - quite a pleasant station, and as we discovered over the course of the following week very easy to navigate. As a general rule, when arriving into a city where we will be making use of the main train station regularly for the duration of our stay we like to explore the station a little after checking into our hotel, even if this requires a lengthy journey back to the station from wherever we are staying. In this case, however, this was to present no problems whatsoever as we had booked a room in the Ibis Amsterdam Centre, quite literally next to Amsterdam Centraal itself! The price of such convenience was, of course, a somewhat higher cost of accomodation - but given the fact that this was our first solo trip, and hence the ability to have a leisurely breakfast even on those mornings where we had an early train booked and still have plenty of time to reach the station would lift a major source of stress and energy-drain from our minds, we felt this was more than worthwhile. On checking into the hotel and leaving our luggage in the room, therefore, we returned to the train station and explored a little, memorising where various platforms, shops and food stands were located and - most importantly - heading to the ticket office to purchase the various train tickets we would require over the coming week. Given the fact that the ticket machines, as noted, did not accept cash we had to do this in-person whilst speaking to an assistant; this gave us our first real experience of just how easy it would be to make ourselves understood.... fortunately so, as our ability to speak Dutch was negligible and (as I will doubtless mention throughout this thread) my pronunciation of those phrases I had memorised was so mangled that I kept being mistaken for German

By this point it was about 5pm and sunset was rapidly approaching; we decided that an ideal way to spend the evening would be to explore the city a little in order to get our bearings and some impression of what Amsterdam was like. One of the very first things we noticed - other than how attractive the exterior of Amsterdam Centraal and surrounding buildings looked - was the vast multi-tier bicycle parking area spanning much of the area in front of the hotel and the south-west portion of the station, which was visible from the window of our room:



On actually leaving the hotel, we had no particular plan for where we would walk - we had a map of the city centre, my generally-good sense of direction and time to burn so we did precisely that - we walked! The following link to Google Maps shows the route we eventually followed:

Google Maps

Overall, our first impressions of the city were good - the architecture and canals were very attractive, the streets remarkably well laid-out and easy to negotiate, and even the ever-pervasive smell of cannabis did not spoil the overall atmosphere.

A few highlights from the walk:

A statue of Anne Frank, located immediately next to the Westerkerk and within 2 minutes walk of the Anne Frank House itself.



The Westerkerk - a church constructed between 620 and 1631 in the Renaissance style and one of the first to be built in Amsterdam after the Reformation; as such it is one of the earliest churches purpose-built for the Protestant Church rather than being converted to Protestantism during the Reformation. This is also the original location of Rembrandt's burial, although neither the burial site nor his remains are extant; the former is unknown, having been an unmarked plot, and the latter were exhumed and destroyed after 20 years as was standard for paupers burials in the Netherlands at the time.



The Keizersgracht, one of the four central canals of Amsterdam along with the Singel, the Herengracht and the Prinsengracht.



The Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam, one of the three main royal palaces in the Netherlands and situated in the Dam Square.



Nieuwe Kerk, a 15th century church which - after significant fire damage in the 17th century - was rebuilt in the Gothic style and converted to Protestantism shortly thereafter. It is located next to the Koninklijk Paleis in Dam Square, and is now used as an exhibition space.



The gates of Artis itself, viewed at night:



After a very enjoyable walk, we made our way back to the hotel and had something to eat in the on-site restaurant; quite limited fare, but rather nice nonetheless and exactly what we needed after a long day. As we had a very early morning ahead of us, we decided to get an early night and - perhaps a reflection on how tired we were - fell asleep within minutes. Despite the close proximity of the train station, our room was well-insulated from any noise pollution and as such nothing intruded on our sleep.

(Coming up: Duisburg/Krefeld Prelude)

 

That just blew my mind. Erasure is still in existence?! They were around when I was a kid. That's like dinosaur music.

 

No.... Was (Not Was) is like dinosaur music

 

Part III: Duisburg/Krefeld Prelude

The following morning we rose rather early - to the best of my recollection, something like 05:30 - in order to give us plenty of time to ensure we were sufficiently prepared for the day and had all train tickets, route plans and timings at hand before making our way downstairs to the hotel breakfast bar for 6am. As we knew we had a long day ahead of us, and moreover knew we could not rely on the concept of getting food at Zoo Duisburg, we made sure that we ate well. In my case, this primarily comprised drinking plenty of tea, and eating rather a lot of scrambled egg, toast and cheese

As has already been noted, Amsterdam Centraal was situated next to our hotel; as such, despite the fact our train to Duisburg HBF departed just after 06:30, there was no need to rush and we made it to our platform in plenty of time. We had booked our train tickets to and from Duisburg some weeks beforehand, by our usual method of phoning the UK booking line for Deutsche Bahn - a simple and easy way of obtaining cheap advance trains for our journey, as we had discovered on previous trips to the continent, and as such essential for our purposes. The journey itself was relatively quick and simple, taking a little under two hours to reach our destination; I found it somewhat amusing that we were travelling all this way to visit a pair of collections deeply nestled within the region of Germany which we would be visiting a few months later, and as such decided to pay close attention to the various local train services displayed on the arrivals board at Duisburg given the fact this would be helpful in our planning efforts for the April trip.

As we boarded the tram at Duisburg HBF which would take us to the zoo, I started to feel somewhat anxious yet excited; as I had confided to @Shorts some days prior when discussing both of our upcoming trips to the Low Countries and gleaning as much advice from him as possible, I had the distinctly morbid mental image that I would potentially be walking into Rio Negro to find a still-warm but nonetheless deceased dolphin bobbing at the surface of his pool although I felt this was unlikely, the prospect of Sod's Law deciding to intervene in our trip could not be ruled out.

However, the dice would fall where they would; we arrived at Zoo Duisburg with a handful of minutes to spare before opening time.....

Spoilers - we saw him, hale and hearty and untouched by the fickle fingers of a cruel Fate

(Coming up: Close Encounters of the Boto Kind)

 

I actually intended to write the full review for Duisburg tonight, but after spending three hours in a FB Messenger call with @ThylacineAlive and @ShonenJake13 in order to help them plan a continental trip of their own I have run out of time