Mefisto
Courier M had the pleasure of reuniting Mefisto with owner Sabina in Zurich.
A very happy Sabina with Mefisto
Overnighting outside Zurich
He then drove to his hotel just outside Zurich, which had booked in advance by the Animalcouriers office. It was dark when he arrived and, after a very good meal, he headed off to bed.
The next morning, as he wandered somewhat sleepily into the breakfast room, he was warmly greeted and asked if he’d slept well. Very well, was his reply. “Oh good, so the wolves and the bears didn’t wake you up then?” he was asked. This unusual early-morning question was enough to rouse him completely and ask for more details. It turned out the hotel he was staying at was in Zurich’s wildlife park (Wildnispark Zürich) — an area of natural forest which incorporates a wildlife zoo.
So after downing a very healthy Swiss breakfast, courier M stepped outside for a quick look around.
Cute and cuddly marmots
Ibex, in their simulated mountain environment
A stag with several does
A somewhat sleepy brown bear
A map of the whole park
Not quite Goldilocks and the three bears — a chart that shows how big bears are compared with humans (pretty big, actually!)
Next stop: Greece
From Switzerland courier M crossed into Italy, stopping in Milan to deliver Charles’s cats, Paco and Rocky. He then made for the port of Ancona, where he boarded the ferry for Patras in Greece.
The busy port town of Ancona
Here comes the ferry!
… what a wonderful place you saw… I wish I would be a bear…. imagine to be that big…. oh the world would be mine hehehehe
Yikes, make for the hills everyone 😀
That one picture puts into perspective why you don’t want to mess with bears! Yikes! You kind of forget how big they are when they are on all fours.
Yes, much better to take a long-distance photo 😉
What an utterly fantastic surprise for courier M 🙂
Yup, what a way to wake him up 😀
Some wakeup call for Courier M! You all see some amazing places in your travels! We used to see bears back east, but haven’t run into any here in our immediate area. I am told we have them here, but they are primarily over in the Coast Range, and we are in the Cascade Range foothills. One commercial beekeeper who used to work his hives over towards the coast told me long ago he used to sleep amid his hives with a loaded 45 because of bear raids. A bee yard that has been attacked looks like a tornado landed.
Hope you don’t run into any bears! Seeing them from a distance is mighty fine enough 😀 The Yogi Bear cartoon made honey stealing by bears seem like fun but, of course, reality is quite a different thing.
Mee-yow that iss sum place Courier Em went to! Can you emagin wakin uppy an seein bearss???
LadyMum reelly likess thee Ibex an mee likess that stag with his entourage following him!
Lady Annie wee furinallee got here to vizit you! Woo Hoo!
***paw patsss*** Siddhartha Henry xxxx an (((hugs))) LadyMum
Delighted to have you drop by Siddhartha Henry and LadyMum 😀 Courier M certainly did have a fine set of sightings that morning!
Sabina looks so happy. Can’t blame her. Bet Mefisto is going to miss you all. 😀
Amazing shots Courier M and how lucky you were to be in the middle of it all! Awesome! That must have been quite an experience and it looks like a great wildlife park.
Gorgeos shots of the port and ferry in Ancona. Thanks for this wonderful tour and for sharing. Take care everyone. 😀 ♥
Wonderful to have the same gorgeous fellow with you since you were 10! Mefisto has settled in fine in his new home and we’re sure he’s had quite enough travelling for the time being 😉 Courier M couldn’t quite believe his ears or eyes – great place to stay, especially if you didn’t know anything about it before going to bed.
Now that’s what I call an interesting place to spend the night!!!! Glad Mefisto is “home again”.
Hugs, Pam and Sam
It was very much to Courier M’s liking!
I would like to stay in that hotel. Excellent pictures.
Hope you make it as we suspect you’d get a whole lot more pictures and of considerably higher quality.
Very cool photos!
Courier M didn’t do too badly!
That was a happy reunion. We are always smiling when we see the reunions. What an excellent view from the Hotel. We wished we could wake up and see all the wildlife around us, I in particular for the marmots, they are quite attractive…MOL 😀 Great pictures too! Pawkisses for a Happy Sunny Day 🙂 <3
We agree Little B, marmots are very cute and always make us smile!