Gone with the wind... on day 3

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25

My third day in France started out as a beautiful morning. It was sunny and bright and after lunch I was ready to get going. I love going to the zoo and this day was perfect for such a trip, so we drove to Émancé where they have an open zoo. Animals not being in cages is definitely a plus for me. The day was just amazing and I was fasinated by the scenery. I didn't take many pictures because I just wanted to sit back and enjoy it. When we drove away we were listening to Tito Puente, which is just as lively as the day was, but after 20 minutes or so the music changed to praise music and that's just what I felt like doing. I don't think I said a word the whole time as I was taking it all in and sat in awe of God and His goodness. I don't remember well but I think the drive was about 45 minutes.
When we arrived at the zoo I told Raphaël that he could take me back to the house if he wanted because I had already had a great day, but we went in to see the animals of course. The Zoo is called the Réserve Zoologique de Sauvage.

Ok, here we go!

This is one of the first views I got of the zoo. They had tons of flamingos, ducks, swans and birds and in case you don't know, seeing Flamingos does a lot of good to a Bonarian girl. Something I found very interesting was that this zoo only had black swans. They are not very common, but here we saw tons of them! I have seen a couple in Holland, but I still can't get used to them.

Flamingos in all the pinkish glory!

Then we saw Wallabies!!! (this is where I begin to think with Steve Irwin's voice. Woohoo!.. sigh) There were a couple of albino wallabies as well. I think I saw about three of them.

Here is a mommy Wallaby and her joey. He looks quite big but he still travelled in her pouch. He only got out to hop a bit.

Cute...

We also saw some of these. I'm not sure what they are. It was really hard getting a picture of them. EDITED: these are antilopes (thanks Raphaël)

This is what the male looked like.

Now these ladies were very very interesting. When I walked by them Raphaël told me something about how they made a sound like drums, and it went in one ear and out the other. Who's going to really believe that a bird can sound like a drum. But then when they walked by me I heard drums!!! really. They are called Emus, and they make two calls. A "gutteral grunt" if they are male, or a "throbbing drum" if they are female...you go girls! You have to hear it to believe it. I think the sound even went from low to high...

Here they are again, looking at the humans, or the other way around.

This is Château Sauvage... it means "Wild Castle". It's at the entrance, so you can see that the place is huge and you can walk far away.

It really was a beautiful day...

Wallabies and Flamingos.

Gone with the wind...

Now, this is a most unfortunate story about
a boy....

....and a girl.

Once upon a time, in a little town somewhere in the middle of France, on a beautiful bright morning a little peahen was taking her daily morning walk, on a familiar little path where nothing unfamiliar ever happened. All of a sudden, as in, unexpectedly and very much to her surprise, a rather unfamiliar thing took place. She saw a young handsome feathery peacock; the kind you would want to date if you were a peahen.

Girl: "Oh la la..."

He turned around as quickly as he could as soon as he realized he was being observed by the curious peahen. Little did she know that he was but a young peacock with really no experience in the art of fanning his tail. But the young peacock did not let his inexperience keep him from wooing the girl. He knew there was a lot of competition out there, and was determined to court her by displaying and shaking his extravagant plumage.

Boy:(steady, steady) Girl: "Ohhh, he's cute."

But alas, a most lamentable thing happened that nobody could have predicted. A mighty wind blew, unbalancing the young lad, pushing his beautiful train forwards in a menacing way, scaring the poor feathers off the girl.

Girl: "AHHHHHH!!!"

Ruining of course any chance of a courtship, ruining any romantic hopes either of them might have had, ruining their very lives.... at least for that moment.

Boy: "Wait, don't go!" Girl: "Sorry, got to gooo!"

Such is life in the wild.

:~(... mip

Anyway, our day at the zoo was brilliant! It was so great to be able to get close to the animals. Most of them really didn't seem to mind that there were people walking around. I highly recommend it if you are ever in this region of France and you like animals of course.

Ok, this was just something I saw on the road. I have no idea what it is, or what's it's for, but I took a picture.

When we got to the house Mr. Pinson had made a lovely spinach quiche for dinner and we all watched Ice Age. Then I helped Delphine (the daughter) with some expositions she wanted to make for a dinner she and some friends were organizing the next day. I think we stayed up until 3:30a.m. making them. You can see pictures of them on "day 4" God willing.

That's all folks!