Fota Wildlife Park

There's a small animal preserve just outside of Cork that's designed to make it seem like you are close to the animals. In fact, there are theoretical kangaroos and lemurs wandering the park, but we didn't see any. The giraffes and bison and oryx were separated from you by only two strands of electric wire.

The amazing thing, though, was the number of cheetahs they had. Sam counted at least a dozen, and we must have been there around feeding time because they were all pacing by the gates of their enclosures. It was the closest we've ever gotten to a cheetah.

They also had a giant giraffe slide at the park, but it turns out that our kids are now too cool (or maybe too scared) to have fun.