"If I could talk to the animals..."

...walk with the animals, run and squeak and squawk with the animals," to quote Rex Harrison in that cinematic masterpiece "Doctor Doolittle" (oh, to travel the world in a pink pearlized snail shell!) And 'twas with that worthy aim in mind, dear reader, that this weekend, we found ourselves communing with nature in the zoo at the Paris Botanical Gardens. Given the season and all, plus the fact that they're carrying out extensive renovation work, the selection of animals was a little limited. In fact, frankly, there were parts that were looking slightly down-at-heel, to say the least - the owl enclosure was full of dead chicks, splattered all over the ground like a feathered version of the Massacre of the Innocents. Ewww. But Noodle proved to be an unexpected hit with the llamas, and we spotted a D-list celebrity, so we were happy. Album of the weekend (by dint of the fact that it cropped up on two separate occasions on the same day) was this (eyes left!) compilation of German electronica "Neue Heimat" which is - apparently - what they're all listening to in Berlin these days. Who knew? Not only was Bertrand playing it on Saturday, but one of rhino75's dining companions that evening (who happens to live in Berlin and is the cousin of a famous actress - namedrop, moi? Never!) also mentioned it. Talk about "zeitgeist" eh?? I do feel that Berlin would be right up rhino75's street but not until I've uploaded the "Cabaret" soundtrack onto my i-pod...strangely, no-one mentioned Liza this weekend. Hmmm. Anyway, I digress. On Sunday, we had a mini Paris blogmeet!! Well, Mickelino and myself went for coffee and a chin-wag at "Le Cavalier Bleu". And he passed on some VERY interesting information...