The Garden of Eatin' - June 26, Thursday

This is our meal and the surroundings at a GARDEN STORE!






German apostrophe abuse







botanical garden picnic food



our picnic view



our camp at the botanical gardens

















During the wee hours I heard G come in and meow. He has a cute meow. Is there any part of Gerald that isn't cute? I don't think so. We got up this morning and had joghurt (2 kinds, mixed berry and fig) with muesli and fruit salad, along with blueberry coffee, which I brought with me. Watched a couple episodes of The Office (US).

When we can, we will post the pictures we've taken so far.

We packed up a cooler with most of the stuff we had left over from last night's Balcony Buffet, along with a bottle of white wine and a bottle of mineral water, threw the folding lounge chairs and the picnic backpack into the car and headed over to Freiburg Botanical Gardens. We had to walk a bit with all of our gear to get there, then we checked our stuff into lockers and went into the greenhouses first. They were wonderful - in the cactus room hundreds of different cacti were in bloom. There were plants from all over the world, along with some fish and even two beautiful turtles, who posed for us.

We left the greenhouse with our picnic gear and walked the length of the gardens to find a shady spot to set up housekeeping. We set up near one of the three lily ponds, where we could hear the frogs making the coolest noises. I don't know WHAT they were talking about. We set up our two chairs, with the cooler in the center with a table cloth over it, and set our buffet and had wine. Naturally we had our books with us. Except for a few short strolls, and some pictures of the frogs when they surfaced, we spent the entire afternoon just reading and enjoying the garden. Our spot looked over the length and breadth of the garden, which is a little hilly and classically beautiful. At one point a Pup-like dog came along and sure enough, jumped right into the frog pond. Deja vu all over again.

The gardens are made up of different sections - South American, Northern Europe, etc. There is even a Giant Sequoia from California. There were lots of people picnicking and strolling.

We left the gardens and believe it or not, headed for a garden center. First we stopped at a giant strawberry and bought fresh green beans, cherries and strawberries. This also afforded us the opportunity to take a picture of a misplaced apostrophe on a GERMAN sign.

We drove Krottenau garden center (Maryland readers: think Behnkes. New Jersey readers: think Gasko's.) It was your typical garden center with plants for sale, but it also had tables set up and you could get food and drink. We shared the #2 (2 shnitzel, fried country-style potatoes and Bibliekäse - sourcream type stuff with garlic) and a rahmkuchen (sort of like a pizza - thin crust, but no tomato sauce) with potatoes and spinach. We both drank Radlers (like a beer spritzer.) It was lovely out and we were sitting near a HUGE purple boogie plant. There was also an aviary full of parrots, cockateil, budgies, and even some baby quails (Ray- I will try to sneak one home to replace the late Bob at the park.)

Came home, had chocolate cake and champagne and watched Rushmore with Bill Murray and one episode of Hamish MacBeth.