It was hotter than we expected today as we arrived at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens when they opened at 10am today. We didn’t spend too much time there as it only got hotter throughout the day. It is always enjoyable to see how the flowers change over time and of course to see what is going on with the local birds.
Continue reading “A Hot Summer Morning at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens”Around the Tiergarten
We spent most of the day in and around the Tiergarten, a large park on the west side of Berlin’s city center. We started out at the Brandenburger Tor, checked out the exterior of the Reichstag, and walked through part of the park. We saw various monuments and memorials and ultimately ended up at the southwest corner of the park by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
Continue reading “Around the Tiergarten”Kaiserburg Nürnberg and the Dutzendteich
Yesterday, we visited part of Nürnberg’s Altstadt (Old Town). Today, we started off at Kaiserburg Nürnberg, the Imperial Castle that sits atop a hill on the northern end of the Altstadt. It is quite a large castle and attached to vast remnants of the city wall. Afterwards, we went to the Dutzendteich area where we visited the Documentation Center, a museum that focuses on what the Nazis did here and why this area was important to their rise to power in Germany. We then walked around the area which currently consists of beautiful parkland with huge dilapidated Nazi constructed structures before heading back into the Altstadt to end the day.
Continue reading “Kaiserburg Nürnberg and the Dutzendteich”Niederwald Above the Rhine
After arriving in Frankfurt, we took the train over to Rüdesheim, a town on the Rhine. We then took a small gondola up to the Niederwald, a forested area above the Rhine Valley. We hiked to the west, eventually descending via a small chairlift into Assmannshausen, an even smaller town. Afterwards, we returned to Frankfurt to have a very late lunch and to walk around a bit.
Continue reading “Niederwald Above the Rhine”Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
We visited the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens again this morning. It was warm and humid and felt like summer, particularly when the sun was out. There was still some smoky haze from the Canadian fires but luckily we didn’t smell it in the air. Many new flowers seemed to have bloomed since our last visit a week ago. And of course, many birds!
Continue reading “Meadowlark Botanical Gardens”
