Bioparco

Today we had hoped to go to the Vatican but my ankle was still badly swollen and bruised and we thought that this close to Easter the crowds at the Vatican would be hard to handle, so we went to the zoo instead!

The zoo (or Bioparco) was at the far end of the Villa Borghese, that we had visited on Sunday and while walking through the parc we found this little temple-esque building. It was spottlessly clean and free of the graffitti that covers much of Rome. Around the inside of the roof were dozens of tiny images of animals and ancient hunting scenes. Finding things like this in the most unlikely places is a huge part of the charm of Rome.

The zoo was fab. I've worked in a few zoos and visited lots more. This was one of the better ones I've seen. Like most places, some of the exhibits could do with some work but it was heading in the right direction. There were some pictures on display showing the zoo in 1999 and the transformation from small cages to the current biome-themed enclosures was quite staggering.

Vic .x.