Ich bin ein Berliner

If you had told me two years ago I'd visit Berlin twice (let alone once) in 6 months I'd would of looked at you funny before disregarding your nonsense and moving on.

My first trip was in December and I fell in love with the city almost straight away, such a wonderful vibe, and so much history and if you ever want to get that Christmas spirit back - you should definitely visit during the festive season. Although it was winter we got rather lucky with the weather.

Our latest visit was in May, so spring in Europe and the difference, to a green thumb like me was immense. Berlin is a very green, leafy city, so the skeletal trees and shrubs of winter were replaced with vibrant green foliage and a lot of spring flowers - a new reason to fall in love with this city.

My new favorite deciduous tree - Aesculus hippocastanum 

On our way out of Berlin after arriving I was scratching my head a bit - had we been here before? It was that dramatic, some areas looked so different in spring - well from my horticultural perspective. I was pretty excited to explore this new "green" city in a different season.

I got to spend a couple of days by myself on our recent journey and there is no better way to discover a new (or slightly new) city then pounding the pavement - also the exercise is really good! Berlin is a pretty easy place to find your way, even with all the great and reliable public transport options (take note Sydney) finding your way by foot is relatively easy - even armed with a city map from 2004.

"You are here" - one of many maps in the Tiergarten

So it's Wednesday the 18th of May. My plan - to explore the Tiergarten, a great big urban park (one of Germany's biggest). In December we kind of passed by on foot, not really exploring the grounds, but this time I was determined to get in and see as much as possible, keep in mind it's a whopping 520 acres!

Its beginnings can be traced back to 1527, so by no means a modern park. Established as a hunting area for the aristocrats of the time. It remained hunting grounds until around 1740 when the first public gardens were opened and in 1742 Fredrick the Great ordered the fences to be torn down and the park be open to the people of Berlin.

Statues depicting hunting scenes

Today it is still very much a park of and for the people and you won't see better examples then in spring and summer when the sun is shining. The recreational pursuits that the park were established on are at the fore, with plenty of recreational pursuits are catered for - walking, running, cycling, ball sports, picnic's, reading, table tennis and you'll see almost as many dogs as people (Berlin is a very pet friendly place).

A trip through the Tiergarten on a nice warm, sunny day will see good crowds of locals and tourists alike. You'll be able to spot the locals from the tourists though - they'll be the ones with shirts off taking advantage of the sun that eludes them through the winter months. It's a place where the vibe of the city is on full display. There's a good chance you'll run into the smaller, furry and cute locals too.

All the locals enjoy Springtime in the Tiergarten

With my neck craned skyward, taking in all the greenery, I made my way around the park in no real order - just trying to take in the biggest cross section of the Tiergarten as possible. There are multiple maps through the park, so as easy it is to get lost, it's just as easy to find your way around. There are many landmarks in the form of monuments scattered within the grounds, these make for multiple photo opportunities. Beethoven-Haydn-Mozart Memorial "Golden Lizzy" - The Victory Column in the heart of the Tiergarten Statue of Queen Luise The display gardens within the park are quite spectacular, so well maintained with wonderful displays - in particular the Rose and Rhododendron gardens. Now I haven't been all over the world but I can say the Rhododendrons here are the most amazing specimens I have seen.

It's also the other plant species that I saw that made it such a wonderful experience - Pachysandra terminalis (a relatively uncommon and sometimes hard to find plant in Australia) carpeting the ground along with Bergenia, Hosta and Limonium - for a Horty like me it's fascinating to see these plants thriving outside a pot.

A perky bunch of Dryopteris filix-mas A carpet of Pachysandra terminalis White Rhododendron bordered by Varigated Hosta

The other thing I found very interesting was on the trees. In a lot of places in Germany, including the Tiergarten you'll find two things on the trunks of trees: bird houses and numbers. Firstly the bird houses (or Vogelhaus in German - remembering the 'v' is pronounced like an 'f') - like the locals, the avian counterparts don't like the colder months and with the great majority of the trees being deciduous the houses provide much needed shelter through winter - you'll find them in the private and public gardens alike.

Number "21-49" a Betula pendula The numbering on the trees is something different that you won't find in Australia. I noticed these metal tags or plastic plaques on a lot of trees in public areas during my first visit. Now it's not always the most flattering thing to be thought of as "just a number" but in this case it means each tree is recorded and ultimately viewed as an asset. These records also help in the planning of tree maintenance and management. It is a little out dated when you consider modern technology available today (QR Codes, GPS and the like) but it is a system and one tree managers of Australia could certainly benefit from.

 

A well earned lunch - worth moving to Berlin for!

So after a walking around for over 3 hours, what does one do in Berlin? Buy yourself a beer (you can get one anywhere), and a good doner kebab (you can find a lot of these too) and sit in a park and enjoy both! Berlin is a great city at any time of the year but is such a warm and wonderful place when the sun is shinning and the trees are green.