Day 9- Museum, Zoo, Entoto Mountain

from my journal:
Today we left Melat with a caregiver (so hard to do, but nice to get out of the walls of the guesthouse!)

Abiey and Matt

Abeiy and I at Entoto Mountain

Our driver took us all around Addis to Entoto Mountain, the Lion Zoo, and the National Museum, some classic Addis tourist stops. Entoto Mountain had a great view of the city and the fresh air alone made it worth the quick trip up there (Addis is very polluted with diesel fumes and dirty dusty air).  It was only about 20 minutes from the Bejoe Guesthouse.

The National Museum is home to "Lucy" the famous human skeleton. She had nothing to do with our picking "lucy" for our girls name, but we thought it was a must see. It was neat to see some of the Ethiopian relics and historical artifacts, although we found it a bummer that it is all so poorly preserved. Lots of neat art to see, and the thrones of the Emperor/Empress and traditional clothing.

The Lion Zoo is home to Abyssinian Lions, unique to Ethiopia we were told. Our driver, Abeiy was quite proud of the zoo, and showed us around to all the animals there. It was not quite like our Oregon Zoo, but was interesting and fun to go somewhere our friend/driver wanted to show us.

Rodeo Addis :)

roadside stand

We picked up a few more souvenirs and had lunch at a spot Abeiy thought we'd like, Rodeo Addis, A Texas Style restaurant. They played american country music and we ate yummy cheeseburgers. We have yet to use our cipro, so we were feeling brave and went for the beef! Abeiy knew we like country music, and though this place would be up our alley! It was pretty awesome, and at a time when we were craving an "american" meal, it tasted pretty darn good.

Now we're relaxing, enjoying our last afternoon at the Bejoe. We also had coffee and chocolate croissants at La Parisienne. I wish I'd known about this place sooner, it was SO GOOD! the macchiatos were amazing and the croissants (with CHOCOLATE, which we've had a very hard time finding in ET) were sooooo tasty!