Where to begin?!
On this trip we spent lots of time with our family, took long walks together ( those former East Germans never quit walking, and my Fit Bit was smiling all day... ) in and around Berlin, in and around and yes, also above the area of Leipzig, and then moved over to Thuringia around the area of Saalfeld, Rudolstadt, where we all came together to celebrate Klaus's cousin's 75. birthday. And boy, do they ever know how to celebrate... , what fun. Finally we took a couple of trains to Koblenz to visit my brother and his growing family living in that area.
I will concentrate mainly on the walks through parks, gardens, a great walk looking for Orchids and similar.

These pictures now were taken on a cool and blustery day at Oranienburg near Brandenburg.
And yes, we did get wet eventually. This park was very pretty and children could play in it.



And this lovely place near Kremmen, Brandenburg

next -
not really botanical, but did you ever eat Chinese food in a place like that? It was totally gorgeous and way over the top and the food was truly very delicious. We ordered a bunch of different dishes and shared them all.



Much much more to come!! Stay tuned!

Delightful pictures, Ursula. I am enjoying this!

Jim

Keep'um coming, Ursula. Did you answer my question or comment about my Kiel Canal experiences?

Oh sorry Ken. Yes I did see that and no - we were never in that region of Germany. I read your account of the Germans waving the American Flag and my thought was that most Germans are usually more reserved, so this was certainly very friendly, how nice.

next - we tooled around Berlin and surrounding a bit, saw Die Schöne Helena at the Komische Oper in Berlin, which was delightful and a bit of a hoot. Much enjoyed!

Wonderful pictures, especially the one of you, Ursula!

Jim

Thanks so much, Jim!
The hardest part is selecting some fun pictures, I certainly do have the means to bore everybody to death, I took over thousand pics!!

On to Leipzig via Vockerode where we used a so called Draisine. Two people peddle along the track while the other two sit comfy on a bench in-between. We all took turns peddling! Too bad we can't post videos, since it seems the Draisine lent itself to take video clips. Nice countryside!
And you saw Phals everywhere you looked. The climate seems perfect for them, und they were thriving and blooming everywhere in windows.

Btw, looking at my picture, I should have seen this coming- my glasses lost a screw and I had to use straight sunglasses or no glasses for a couple of days. No problem, they got fixed in Leipzig, free of charge.

Hubby and I love German wine. I hope you were able to enjoy some while you were there! Lovely photos. Is that railroad part of the old concentration camps? If so, what a peaceful transformation. I really want to go someday.

No, until 1990 this track was used to transport Brown Coal. And now it takes you over lovely landscape for ca 40 minutes.

next - a view from the balcony and a fun walk through the Botanischen Garten in Leipzig


more tomorrow as we take to the air and more....

Ursula these are wonderful pictures of flowers and gardens. You can't possibly bore us with that subject matter. (through the beauty of online viewing we can see as many or as few as we want anyway). It's nice to be able to see others' travel photos, for sure.

Lovely photos, Ursula. I think it is nice to tour a botanical garden no matter where it is.

Jim

NICE!

Thanks guys!

I'm Glued and loving the installments, btw my dtr was born in Bad Cannstadt 1972.

Dtr? Roberta, I am not familiar with this one.

A couple of impressions of Leipzig, one of my favorite towns.
Take a closer look at the lovely fruits and vegetables, I particularly went for the Black Currants, so delicious.
I took some pics of the Phals for sale, dirt cheap I would say!! And looking great!!
And the Kosacks are still around playing songs from the 1960s or so. There were street musician everywhere in the center of town.
Playing scrabble in German is great - Löschwassereinspeisung/ Water Hydrant.
And there are the numerous Olitätenrundwanderwege (round path to walk about amongst certain plants) out in the country! I love that one!

All those bikes remind of downtown Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Brussels. There are piles of bikes everywhere. It is said that in many W. European countries, there are more bikes than people!

Ken, these Bikes were in front of the student library in the Musician viertel. Normally you didn't see THAT many. These is a very vibrant city for sure, with Musicians/Concerts everywhere. The Thomas Kirche is nearby, where Bach was in charge of composing as Kapellmeister and the city is still alive with his memory.
At a house party we were invited to go upstairs into one of the apartments for what I thought was a friendly piano recital. What I didn't expect was a jaw dropping, Carnegie Hall worthy Piano concert. I was truly floored. Everybody sat, stood and listened, even the smallest children.
When I mentioned how much I loved it, the gentleman gave me a CD with his recordings, his name is Alexander Meinel.

Unexpected pleasure!