There are actually three separate domes that each have a region they represent. The largest dome (below on the right) is the South America Dome and is over 80 feet high (and about 80 degrees inside... seriously).
It was my favorite, by far. The cool thing about the whole place is that a lot of the animals aren't in cages. They just kind of roam around and do whatever they feel like. There were a ton of kids there and all I kept thinking was how, if this was in the US, some douchey little brat would have tried to grab the monkey already. There aren't even people standing around watching what you do or how close you get. I think I saw a total of two "keepers" the entire time we were there and one of them was only there to feed dead mice to the alligators (which were in a cage, no worries). Here's what it looks like from the inside of the dome:
The other two domes (Asia and Africa) were really fun as well, but they were smaller and had fewer animals. Each dome also had some sort of thing to climb up to the top and cross bridges, rivers, and other things so you can see all the animals from different angles. Here's my German friend Franzi crossing one of the rivers, and my Irish friend Dearbhla crossing one of the jungle bridges.
The trip was really fun. For only 10 kronor more (less than 2 dollars) I could have made my entrance ticket a "season pass" for the year, but I don't think I'll be able to within the next two months.
After the zoo, we walked across the street and I had my first meal at McDonalds since I've been here. I got a delicious quarter pounder and then almost shot up the place for selling me a cup and finding out their fountain didn't have Coke Light. I mean it's bad enough that I can't get a single fucking bottle of real Diet Coke in this entire country, but to not even have it's ugly step-child Coke Light was unacceptable. I had to drink orange fucking soda. Am I 9 years old? We took our food to go and ate it in the park next to the zoo since it was really nice out that day and we have to take full advantage of any sunny days since they are going to disappear soon to be replaced by hellish wind and freezing cold rain. Here's our "American Picnic" according to Holger:
After the zoo, we went to the beach back in Aarhus which is mainly a private beach called Den Permanente but if you walk around to the right, you can sit on the little breaker wall thing and watch the people who are paddle surfing and kayaking. There are a lot of beaches in Denmark (obviously, since it's surrounded almost entirely by water) and there are a lot just in Aarhus alone, but this was the first one I've been to so far.
It was a fun day that completely wiped me out. The combination of being in the car and the heat of the dome (and maybe a tummy full of fast food) exhausted me and I promptly went home and took a huge nap.
