Gardens of the World on the Backside of the Moon

I had seen pictures of the Gardens of the World on advertisements by the BVG (the transportation department in Berlin). Once we came out here on Saturday I realized that is because you have to take a lot of transportation in order to get there! S-bahn lines were down, so we took the S-bahn to the U-bahn to the back of beyond where we caught a bus to JVD (which means 'way, way out there').

First, we made our way through the irrgarten.

It was not so easy! I was completely turned around by the time I found the middle, and that's only half done.

Next we went to the Chinese garden.

I was hungry and there was a pagoda, so we sat and ate our lunch there.

People eventually began to act like themselves again.

The chinese garden was really beautiful. All designed by landscape designers from Bejing,

which is a sister city of Berlin

complete with lake and tea house. They even imported Chinese rocks.

Then off to the Italian garden with a renaissance theme.

Joss never did fall asleep, which means I suppose that he's no longer sleep deprived enough to nap in the stroller.

The Italian garden was more familiar, but also very well done.

Then we went to the Moroccan garden, which I think was our favorite.

Still life with bougainvillea

It reminded me of the gardens of San Sebastian in the Alhambra in Granada where I have always wanted to take Rob.

Rob insisted that this is what he wants the backyard to look like.

With high walls and water, he meant.

A fabulous drinking fountain.

This was a "Christian" garden, which is an interesting concept, but I didn't have the German to puzzle it out. Some of it is biblical and something is from Goethe.

The Japanese garden was stunning, and just what I needed after chasing Joss around the playground.

Rocks, grass and water.

Korean. I thought that it would be lush and tropical. I wasn't prepared for their carefully planned bare spaces.

Then there were lush parts too.

And the Balinese garden was so tropical that all of my pictures inside are fogged up! But my kids had a good time with these jolly guys.

On the way home, we managed to get a train all the way across Germany that dropped us off at our very own S-bahn station. Phew!