Monkey Mountain

About 30 minutes south of Strasbourg is the Montagne des Singes, or the Monkey Mountain. This is a park that is just a stone's throw away from the oft-visited castle at Haut Konigsberg. Between all the folks in the US contingent, we must have driven 500 times past the signs that mark the exit to Monkey Mountain from the main highway. For 11 months now, we've been talking about going but never getting it done. (Once in February, Theresa and Irma and Gabi and I drove up there only to find the park closed due to cold weather.) Well, finally, we visited the monkeys.

Monkey mountain is located on one of the smaller knobs of tree-covered rock adjoining Haut Konigsberg. Lord knows why, but at some point there was someone who decided to put a fence around the knob and to put a bunch of monkeys inside the fence. They also put a bunch of electric netting around the tree trunks to keep the monkeys from climbing the trees to make their escape. As a result, you can pay the paltry sum of 7.50 euros to go inside the fence and make friends with the monkeys. Since monkeys don't fall for the usual pick-up lines, they give you some popcorn at the entrance to help you draw the interest of the little critters.

So, these are pictures from the Montagne des Singes.

Above is Theresa making a new friend.

This dude won the award for the ugliest monkey in the park.

The picture above is of Joe Moeddel. The furry young lady is playing hard to get. This has been Joe's problem since coming to France - they all play hard to get.Above is Mindy Beigle. In this case, she is the one playing hard to get.

The most exciting moment in the whole "Monkey Mountain Experience" was when we were leaving. There was a bit of a monkey fight going on somewhere that drew the staff away from the exit gate. A little kid, bless his heart, decided to open the gate by himself to get out. Little did he know that there was a monkey conspiracy going on. A sly old monkey knew that the gatekeeper had been distracted by the diversion and, as soon as the little kid opened the gate, that monkey was out the door faster than you can say McGilla Gorilla. As we left the park, we expected to find him sitting in the backseat of our car. But no such thing. I suspect he is still escaped and terrorizing the hikers in the woods near Monkey Mountain.