Okidoki :-)

I had chosen and written down 3 hostels with good ratings and good prices in the centre of Warsaw ... all with 24 hour reception!  And Okidoki was at the top of my list :) I loved it!  It made me very pleased to have had the need to stay at a backpackers ... just so that I could experience it. Colour.  Vibrancy.  Humour.  Outgoing people both staff and guests.  24 hour hot showers at no extra cost. Same with the Internet ... if you were within a certain area.  Imaginative.  Informative.  Free hot cuppas in the 24 hour kitchen too ...
I was allocated to the Bike Room ... I you know how I like the Dutch Traditional Grandma bikes? ?!! Well there was one hanging on the wall above my bed :-)

Now in Polska :-)

I car pooled for about 700 kms from Bad Dürrenberg,  Germany to Warsaw Poland in a Ford Fiesta hatchback with a Russian couple who now live in Italy.  I really enjoyed the ride with them ... perfect combination of conversation and silence so I could sleep too.  €35 vs €92 by train ... An no hassles with un notified changes to my ticket!! No lack of communication between me and the driver ... we were very compatible :-)
There was a protest at the German/Polish boarder ... written in Polish ... I still don't know what it was about yet ... but Pawel says it might be to do with ....the Germans recent movie in which it is depicted that a Polish soldier kills a Jew ... There's a bit of a reaction about that.
We drove through some lovely and varied scenery ... that was another great thing about travelling with Aleksey and Irina .... they chose scenic routes with the aid of the brilliant digital navigation gadget attached to their screen. 
We arrived at the centre of Warsaw at bang on midnight. ... they dropped me off very near the Okidoki hostel.  :-) And that's another thing the train wouldn't do for me :-)

Leipzig Zoo

We went to the Leipzig zoo this morning, it is now the biggest in Germany and is still expanding with the animal leading us to the culture of its country of origin including traditional meals in traditional styled restaurants and iconic items for sale amid accompanying cultural music! 
Hence you can already guess that we didn't see everything :)
But we chose 2 main areas, one translates as "the human monkeys" being apes, gorillas and orangutans and chimpanzees. And the other area we chose was the Amazon Forest. Which is kept under a huge canopy at 29º.
A lot of that area is open for people to walk through without any divide between them and the animals, which also means that you really have to be patient and look carefully to see the wide variety of lizards, frogs, birds and even Squirrel Monkeys - (which were made famous by Mr Nilsson - Pippi Longstocking's monkey!)  :)
I walked across a narrow bridge from tree top to tree top - its steel cables were disguised beneath a facade of thick weathered rope suggesting a risky crossing at a height of about 30 mtrs up! !
Across the other side was a group of about 6 squirrel monkeys waiting to meet me face to face! !  No barrier between us at all, except perhaps the 2 zoo staff ladies (who may have been ruining all the fun .... or ... saving me. ... I'm still not sure! ) They were kinda hovering over us like over protective mothers - making sure that neither I nor the monkeys touched each other.  But they had their hands full - for where I was (unusually) well behaved the monkeys seemed delightfully relentless!!  :)
Attempting to leap onto me ... and apparently while I was watching 2 of them another one was eyeing up the orange flower on my green skirt!! So the zoo lady asked me to keep it covered with my hand!  Unfortunately because of their mischievousness I couldn't take my camera onto the platform,  or I would have plenty of photos to show you! 
On the other hand ... perhaps I wouldn't even  "have"   my camera anymore and even therefore not be able to write this to you now! 
And Oh My Gosh! !! :) The Flamingos were the most Gorgeous Colour!  :)   :)   :)