Last month I visited Berlin for the third time
My husband and I were celebrating our first year wedding anniversary. 11 years ago, I visited a deaf tattoo convention in Berlin with my friend, and my future husband happened to be there with his friends. We already knew each other from the boarding school, although we never talked, being in different years with different communication methods (he was oral while I used sign language to communicate). As we reconnected, we realised we had a lot in common and the rest is history! So Berlin is a special place for us, and we plan to visit every 11 years if we can. Hopefully we are able to make many more visits while we grow old together.
We had a free day to visit a botanic garden
We were in Berlin for a week this time and we found time to travel outside the city to visit a botanic garden. It was so lovely to catch a couple of trains (despite the rush hour!) and experience the change of scenery as our hotel was in the middle of the city. We arrived at the botanic garden finding that the majority of the areas were under refurbishment while it was off-peak, but it was still open to the public - happily greenhouses seemed to be fully open. It was really the main reason I went!
Greenhouses genuinely make me happy
If you know me well, you’ll know I adore greenhouses – mostly because they’re full of lush plants (and warm!). I always find inspiration in greenhouses because they almost have all the known plants in their very best conditions (super giant leaves, for instance!) And I get to stroll and take pictures of all the beautiful views, organic shapes, exciting patterns and earthy colours I can spot.
The Botanischer Garten greenhouses are *huge*
They’re divided into different groups of plants in their own climates. My particular favourite is Cactus House. The cacti are so tall and so majestic! The colours are stunning and in warm hues, which reminds me of a desert.
I took way too many photos – so many that my phone battery went flat (thankfully towards the end of the greenhouse tour). The upside is I now have a lot of image references to paint from. The downside is it was overwhelmingly hard to narrow down which photos to share with you! They’re mostly from the Cactus House, but I’ve shared some beautiful ones from the Fern House, Aroid House and the main Tropical House as well.
I’m looking forward to starting the paintings of these amazing greenhouses! I hope you enjoy my photographs in the meantime.
