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Kirsten

Baby animal galore at Schönbrunn Zoo Vienna, October 2025

Had a great Autumnal weekend in Vienna and had plenty of time to see the whole of Schöbrunn Zoo across the two days. It was a very popular spot with many tourists visiting, in fact for sure this is the zoo that I’ve seen the most tourists in. Had great weather which meant almost all the animals were outside – makes for a good visit. It’s a large zoo so I definitely would have struggled to see everything in one day as well as dedicating a solid amount of time to the pandas, I think two days was pretty perfect!

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Kirsten

A brand new pair of P A N D A S @ S C H Ö N B R U N N Z O O V I E N N A October 2025

The Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria was the first European zoo that I saw pandas in after my home zoo of Edinburgh way back in 2017 (when the last born cubs there were just tiny lil babies^). In 2018 the twins left Vienna for China, and in 2023 mama Yang Yang and her new partner Yuan Yuan (who I didn’t see) left for their return to China. Finally in April 2025, a brand new pair of pandas moved to Vienna! As soon as I heard the news, I booked myself a trip – welcome to Lan Yun and He Feng 🎉

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Kirsten

Photo diary: Zoo Berlin, September 2025

With giving myself 2 days for panda viewing at Zoo Berlin, of course, there were some panda sleeping hours where I could go and see the rest of the animals – I’ve seen around the whole zoo a few times before on previous trips (this is my 5th time at the zoo!), so I didn’t take thorough pictures of the grounds or all the animals, but I think I had a pretty good viewing experience overall. Shortly before my visit baby capybara’s were born, they weren’t quite out exploring yet so I didn’t get to see them – but perhaps on my next visit they’ll still be little^

Highlights included: seeing the rhinos outside in their new space, watching the brown bears search for fruit and veg in their rather green pool (and having a blast while doing so), and discovering that there are actually two takins here because I’d only ever seen one before!

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Kirsten

I bought an annual pass to Zoo Berlin ~ P A N D A S @ Z O O B E R L I N September 2025

On my last trip to Berlin in May, I couldn’t resist buying an annual pass – for zoo only it was 63€, and with a visit costing 25€ (on the day of the visit), it really just made sense, so with this 2-day visit in September, my annual pass had already paid for itself after our 2-day visit in May! So, time for another ‘Pandas at Zoo Berlin‘ post – this is my 5th trip to the Zoo, and my second time seeing Leni and Lotti^ On the whole, nothing has hugely changed with the zoo since my last visit, apart from that you can now buy a Leni and Lotti souvenir 0€ note, so let’s just get into the photos:

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Kirsten

A first-timer in NYC trying to see it all ~ Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and MORE!

I can’t believe I went to New York! I had thought about New York many years ago, pre-panda obsession, and then never really thought it would happen, and then forgot about it. But when planning my DC trip, I wanted a few days somewhere else, and San Diego was a little far to make it work in the time I had, New York became an appealing option – it’s on the same side of the country as DC, and less than an hour flying time, plus there is a direct JFK to Edinburgh flight, it ticked a lot of boxes! So after 3 nights in DC, I headed up to New York for 3 nights there, ending up with a half day when I arrived and almost 3 full days before my overnight flight home. The time ended up being a really good taster of the city, enough to tick off some major sights and leave some things for a future trip – I do think I will end up coming back in a few years!

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