I visited the Helsinki Zoo, about a week ago. I was very impressed by the zoo, much better and larger than I thought it would be. The zoo focuses on animals that live in climates similar to the nordic one. That meant that there were no common African ungulates there, but that was rather good as the zoo compensates for it by having several unusal species, that I had not seen before. Highlights for me included the mishmi takin exhbit, the cat valley (especially the pallas and european wild cats), the tropical building (especially the gundis and agoutis) and the indoor exhibit called Borelia for wading birds. I have also never seen so many peacocks before, and the number of free ranging geese was rather impressing. I had to take the bus to the zoo, that was a good 30 minute drive. But if the zoo-ferry had been operational in winter, it would be possible to get there in a much shorter time. Also it was dissapointing that all the museums was closed in Helsinki on mondays. That meant that I wasted a whole day looking for the museums, that was closed, anyway. That day could be much better used in the zoo. But overall I love Helsinki, and the Tove Janson exhibition in the art museum also impressed me alot.