Botanical Gardens (More Pictures!)

Today Christine and her sister invited me to go to the Berlin Botanical gardens with them. I was planning on hiding in my room all day, but I guess that seeing botanical gardens could be a better use of my time...

On the walk from the train to the gardens, we stopped in a bakery to get breakfast and coffee. I had this amazing strawberry pastry with entire strawberries on top. Super hard to eat while walking, but 100% worth it.

We also got really lucky when we got to the garden. It was 1 Euro day (normally 5-8 Euro), which included a ticket to the botanical museum. Although we weren't really interested in the museum, it was still a fantastic deal.

Again I was struck by the wild appearance of the gardens. Usually in America, botanical gardens are extremely well-manicured. Here, the plants grew freely (at least outside). We wandered through overgrown paths, ducking under tree branches and taking tiny dirt roads. It felt like you were immersed in a forest.

At one point a bug flew into my eye, so I guess that added to the immersion?

The winding dirt paths eventually led us to a village of greenhouses. There were some food stalls as well, and I seriously contemplated having a "first lunch" (it was around 10:30 and we were planning on getting lunch afterward). But my desire to see pretty plants won out over my stomach (by some miracle), and we headed into the greenhouses.

The first one was shaped like a glass castle! It had a desert room and a tropical rainforest room, which don't normally go together in the same building! It was definitely the most humid desert I've ever been to. Christine and her sister both brought fancy cameras, and I was just a tad jealous. My phone doesn't do the plants justice!

As pretty as the mini rainforest/desert combo was, the humidity was killing me. It felt like soup in the air. I was really happy when we finally left and wandered over to the next greenhouse.

This one had little exhibits on the first floor. It reminded me of the reptile and amphibian building at the Sedgwick County Zoo. The walls were lined with glass windows, each looking into a small terrarium with plants. A couple of them had little snails in them, which were super cute. My only complaint was that it was a bit crowded, so it was hard to see into the exhibits.

Upstairs opened up into a massive greenhouse. This one also looked pretty tropical, but it wasn't nearly as humid (thank goodness!!) There were so many plants to look at. This greenhouse was also conveniently connected to several others, and the path took you on one big winding loop.

((Photos of the desert/rainforest castle greenhouse))

We probably spent the better part of an hour just in this building. There were plants of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some dangled from the treetops, some crept over the path, some were even rebelliously sneaking through cracks in the glass panels. The greenhouse had multiple floors, so there were plenty of spots at the top overlooking the entire building. I just wanted to sit and doodle or write. It was such a happy place.

Christine's sister ended up wandering on ahead of us, so my roomie and I took a more liesurely pace and made good conversation. We found some adorable little birds that looked like fuzzy baseballs with orange feet. There was also a whole room dedicated to succulents, which we spent quite a bit of time in. By far the highlight of the greenhouse, though, was the little touch-sensitive plants. They look like ferns, but if you run your fingers along the leaves, they curl up. So cute!!!!!! I probably looked really strange, poking at plants and squealing in delight.

Alright, brace yourself for an onslaught of pictures! They aren't professional quality or anything, but I hope they capture some of the beauty of this place. (There's so much green!!)

We encountered Christine's sister again at some point, and she warned us about crowds in the cactus room. Apparently, she had been shoved into a cactus by tourists eager to get past. When we got there, we were super careful to stick to the middle of the path. People were pretty aggresive, but Christine and I got through unscathed.

In the last room of this massive greenhouse complex, there was a really big tree with a spiral staircase you could climb up. Of course I practically sprinted up the stairs, even though I wasn't sure where they led. I love trees and treehouses and anything that remotely looks like a treehouse. (Nevermind the fact that I used to be terrified of spiral staircases. I'm getting better) The view from up top was excellent! We just stood and admired it for a little while.

At the base of this tree/platform, there was a little pond and waterfall. The pond had koi fish and stepping stones, so obviously we had to step on them. I got a picture of my beautiful roommate, and also a picture of a beautiful lizard. ;)

At last we emerged from the greenhouse. There was one more greenhouse, but this one was significantly smaller and had a long line of people waiting to get in. It was called Queen Victoria's greenhouse, and Christine had seen pictures of it online. Apparently it was filled with massive lily pads. Since the line was moving fairly quickly and we were curious, the three of us (now reunited) decided to check it out. I managed to get a picture of one part of the big greenhouse while we waited.

It was almost 2:00 at this point (somehow), but I wasn't starving. Maybe I was feeding on the pure excitement in the air. That, or the strawberry pastry from earlier was really filling.

At last we made our way into the greenhouse. It was very small, consisting of only one pond and a bridge over it. However, it was certainly worth the short wait. Christine had been correct - there were huge lily pads floating on the water. A gardener was explaining that the flowers only open up at night, but the pond was still beautiful without them.

Apparently there was still a good chunk of garden we hadn't explored yet outside of the greenhouses. Although we were getting a bit tired and hungry, we decided to take the longer way back so we could see a bit more. The outdoor gardens were much more spread out, and we didn't feel the need to stop every few steps to look and take pictures. We did pause briefly at a pond to count frogs (#gofrogs), but otherwise kept up a fairly reasonable pace.

There was a garden full of medicinal plants, which was really fun to look at. We also walked past a gorgeous open cottage. I definitely want to get married there. :p

(Not that I'm thinking about marriage all the time no definitely not)

At last it was time to escape and return to civilization. We caught an S-Bahn to Berlin Chinatown for lunch. It was really nice to sit down for a bit. The resturaunt we went to was adorable. I ordered a beef bowl with glass noodles and Thai iced coffee. That stuff is really sweet, but at the same time pretty bitter. It's a really unique flavor that's nice on occasion, but definitely not something I would drink every day.

Poor Christine accidently ordered a Thai hot coffee (in her defense, the drink name was in a different language and the description only said 'with cream', so she assumed it was tea). She doesn't like coffee.

The food was good. We didn't stick around in Chinatown, instead opting to head back home for the evening. It had been a very long day, and none of us were really up for more walking. I was so excited to just lay down for a bit.

I feel like most of my entries end with me crashing on my bed in exhaustion. I guess that means I'm getting the most out of my days, right? ;)