I had a couple of friends over for that silly blursday period between Christmas and New Year’s and we decided to get to Guadalajara for a walk or two. Not that there is much to see, but it has a small zoological park. The Zoológico Municipal de Guadalajara had a rocky start, with small cages and sad animals, but it seems to be trying to do better. The main activity that goes on in the zoo is the recovery of birds of prey, and there are some education programs too.

We had lunch in an all-you-can-eat Asian restaurant that I enjoy because it is one of the few places where I can get myself some sushi.

Afterwards, we visited the Palacio de la Cotilla, Cotilla Palace – whose name ‘palace’ is more than overrated. It is a 17th century is a downtown manor in Guadalajara, Spain, formerly owned by the Marquis of Villamejor. One of the rooms, named the “Chinese Room”, Salón Chino de la Cotilla, is decorated with hand-painted rice paper, brought from Beijing, and several Japanese Edo-period paintings which were probably purchased in France from Dutch sailors or merchants.

Finally we took a stroll towards a silly spot in the middle of nowhere that has a Japanes-like bridge over… nothing, really, but it is a cute bridge, in the Parque de las Esculturas, Sculpture Park.

After that we just headed back home because it was dark and cold and pizza could be ordered (≧▽≦).