Author: chancey.13

The Berlin Zoological Gardens

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California Sea Lions sunbathing at Berlin Zoological Gardens. Credit: Sam Chancey

My initial goal when traveling internationally was to visit a zoo in every country. Unfortunately, that goal fell flat, but one zoo I did get to visit was the Berlin Zoo. This zoo was unlike any other zoo I visited and I really enjoyed my time there. I got to see so many animals that I have never been able to see before, including the Giant Panda and the Kiwi! The Kiwi was mostly just a big shadowy figure though, because it was housed in a nocturnal exhibit, but it still counts. I also did not realize how massive Kiwis are and how little Giant Pandas are until this visit. What was really mind-blowing about this zoo though was how it was so engrossed in nature. Everywhere you looked, there were massive trees, shrubberies, bamboo, and flowers. It was so immersive you wouldn’t have even known you were in Berlin. The zoo even had a medieval tree, which was estimated to be from the 15th century.

Hippo at Berlin Zoological Gardens. Credit: Sam Chancey

Harbor Seal at Berlin Zoological Gardens. Credit: Sam Chancey

Medieval Tree at Berlin Zoological Gardens. Credit: Sam Chancey

Video of a Flounder at the Berlin Aquarium. Credit: Sam Chancey

 

What was more interesting was the habitats for their animals. It really seemed like they were doing all that they could to simulate the natural environment of the species they were housing. For the California Sea Lions, the pool in the exhibit had a wave machine, which I had never seen done before. The King Penguin and Rockhopper Penguin exhibit had a built-in ice maker and walking in the building, you could feel the temperature difference. There was even a coastal aviary exhibit that housed birds like SandPipers where there was also a pool that simulated waves splashing on a beach. The aquarium also had some elaborate exhibits that emulated natural environments, most notably, a river exhibit with a strong current. While I was in the World of Birds, I also noticed many native Ohio species, including the Northern Cardinal. It is pretty cool to know that people look at our state bird in this zoo on a daily basis.

Giant Panda at Berlin Zoological Gardens. Credit: Sam Chancey

California Sea Lion on rock at Berlin Zoological Gardens. Credit: Sam Chancey

 Overall, it was just really interesting to see the different approaches to sustainability, husbandry, and enrichment that different zoos opt for. Prior to the Berlin Zoo, I had never seen an exhibit with waves or an ice machine for Penguins and so seeing these different habitats and how animals interact with them was really eye-opening. I hope to be able to use my experiences here to be an advocate for animals, their needs, and what’s possible, in the future. 

Paris Under Construction

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Paris, the City of Love, is enshrouded in scaffolding. Nearly every Parisian monument or landmark has become a site for the upcoming Summer Olympics, obscured by walls and barbed wire fences that post “Under Conservation and Restoration.” The bottom of the Eiffel Tower is completely fenced off and only the outside has received a new coat of paint. The project of repainting was championed by fifty painters and was subsequently abandoned given the inadequate time frame. Signs were posted outside the tower warning tourists of lead exposure as they stripped back over half a century of old paint. The Champ de Mars has been transformed into a stadium. The Gardens of Versailles are under renovation. The Trocadero, which is considered the best spot for pictures with the Eiffel Tower, has been repurposed and filled with bleachers for spectators. Sidewalks and roads are closed and fenced. Paris’ largest square, la Place de la Concorde is completely cordoned off to the public and the metropolitan no longer stops at the station. 

View of the Trocadero from the Eiffel Tower, which has been turned into seating for spectators. Credit: Sam Chancey

The Notre Dame Cathedral, still under construction from the 2019 fire. Credit: Sam Chancey

 

This is all a part of the city’s lofty goal to halve Olympic emissions for the games in Paris. Rather than construct new places to hold the games, Paris has decided to renovate already existing structures to save on emissions. They also constructed the Olympic Village from wood and traded air conditioning for a cooling system that relies on groundwater. According to The New York Times, some Olympic teams are considering bringing their own air conditioning. The sheer degree of construction occurring in the city just two months before the games begs the question of whether it will all be finished in time. 

The Seine River from the Eiffel Tower. Credit: Sam Chancey

Parisians have other concerns, though. The Olympic Village is being built in Saint-Denis, one of the most impoverished suburbs of Paris. Citizens are complaining of unsafe levels of air emissions and the gentrification of Saint-Denis, resulting in the forced removal of low income residents. Many are comparing it to what happened in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. In spite of this, there are some positives to the massive preparations for the Olympics.  The Seine River was cleaned so that it is safe for swimming for the first time in over 100 years. Rats, bedbugs, and other pests are being removed to keep the city clean. During my time in Paris, I did not see a single rat, despite being promised that there would be some fuzzy friends. Monuments, statues, and buildings are being renovated, polished, or shined. In spite of vast improvements to the city, Paris under construction has been a frustrating and bizarre experience as a traveler. Though I was only in Paris for a couple days, I can only imagine the impact this has had on the daily lives of Parisians.

View of one of the Olympic stadiums from the Eiffel Tower. Credit: Sam Chancey

The Inconvenience of Carrying Trash

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When arriving in London, I stepped outside to smell the (not so) fresh London air after being cramped on a stuffy plane for over seven hours. What was most apparent to me was the immediate smell of cigarette smoke. I am not sure what I expected, but it definitely was not that. As I commuted by train to my hotel and walked through Kensington, the suburb we had stayed, I noticed it was not a one-off event. I was in the minority for not smoking cigarettes. I had gone on this trip with the expectation that France was a heavy smoking country, but did not realize the hobby was multi-national and, overall, is relatively popular in Europe. Though the smoking habits of London were jarring, what was more peculiar was the lack of access to public trash cans, or bins, as they are called. As a result, people are forced to carry their trash with them as they venture through the city, most unwilling to do so, which guided my attention elsewhere: litter. 

Cigarette butts pepper the streets and sidewalks of London. Beer cans are left in the strangest places. I found one lonesome and crushed in one of many of the iconic red phone booths of London. I tried to find a trash can for it with no luck, going as far to ask one of the city workers: their trashcan was not for public use. Street sweepers made rounds daily throughout the city. At night, “litter pickers” emerged to rid the streets of stray trash. Scot Zweer, a street cleaner in Central London, describes what the job takes: “You will be moving some bags and you will find people’s faeces or vomit. The smell is sometimes so bad. I’m quite squeamish. It’s eye-watering.” All this work seemed counterintuitive and more expensive than providing public trash cans, so why?

Street sweeper outside of Westminster Abbey. Credit: Sam Chancey

London has an extensive history of bombing- one that transcends World War I and II. The bombings in London began with the Fenian Bombing Campaign in 1881. Fenian was a term used to describe someone part of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (Now known as the Irish Republican Army) and those involved used terror attacks to “coerce” their independence from Britain. London would later suffer eight straight months of  bombing through the Blitz at the hands of the German Luftwaffe. London has been the target of a century and a half of bombardments committed by the IRA and, in later years, by Islamic extremist terrorists. Following the 1993 bombing of Bishopsgate, all public trash cans were removed as they were primary targets to hide bombs. In 1998, a peace deal was made to end the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Since, London is slowly reintroducing public trash cans, though they are still few and far between. 

City of London Police Debris from the Bishopsgate bombing strewn across the street

The aftermath of the bombing at Bishopsgate. Credit: City of London Police.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London

https://www.theirishstory.com/2012/02/13/one-skilled-scientist-is-worth-an-army-the-fenian-dynamite-campaign-1881-85/

https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/why-arent-enough-bins-certain-16839886

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-43878479

https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/cleaning-up-londons-streets-grim-21872527

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-10866072