I arrived in Berlin earlier this week and hit the ground running!  My daughter is an incredible hostess and tour guide and we have zipped all over Berlin on the massive and incredibly efficient transit system (Boston should soooooo be taking notes!).

And we’ve been doing a LOT of walking and stairs!! Up and down transit stairs and up and down to her 5 floor walk-up flat!

But today I want to highlight a wonderful attraction we visited: The Tiergarten.   

Berlin is one of the greenest cities in the world because of the many parks, but the Tiergarten is one of the largest at 520 acres.

Originally conceived as a hunting ground for the monarch, the park now is home to meandering paths, ponds, grassy fields, and flower gardens

A highlight of the park was the Teehaus and English Garden. The garden is enclosed with a hedge, and the thatched roof Teehaus overlooking the gardens has patios with both self service picnic tables and waitress service dining where we had a lovely afternoon tea served in style. The tea sandwiches were good, the pastry was delicious, and the scones with jam and clotted cream were legendary!

In the center of the park accessible via tunnels that go under the roadways and roundabout, is the Victory Tower, 200 feet tall topped by a bronze 26 ft angel.

You can climb the 285 spiral staircase to the observation deck and see a birds eye view of the whole park. Notice I said YOU - We did not 🤣.  Even without a trek to the top of the victory tower my wrist informed me I did 23 flights of stairs and walked almost 17000 steps that day?!

The park has many waterways and ponds, and there are picturesque bridges with lovely views. It is a pleasant place where many people spend a leisurely afternoon picknicking, dog-walking, strolling, or bicycling along the many winding paths.

There is a zoo on one corner of the park, which we did not go to, but another edge of the park, has an interesting display of gas lampposts from around Germany and Europe, with posts from Heidelberg, Bonn, Potsdam, Paris, and Amsterdam among the dozens on display.

After tea we wandered over to the fenced in Rosengarten which is a more formal symmetrical affair with a colonnade in one end and a statue of Flora, the goddess of flowers and the spring, and a Putto in the other.

Paths, gazebos, garden beds, a fountain, and 4 rose arbor pavilions fill out the center areas. Benches invite sitting to relax and view the scene.

The rose garden, dates back to 1909, and was rebuilt after the war in 1974.  The most recent restoration was in 2005 and cost 250,000 Euro.

The garden sports 119 different varieties of roses along with an assortment of other flowers to keep it looking pretty when the rose blooming season is past.  We were there a little past prime rose season, but there were still plenty blooming and it was still beautiful.

I highly recommend a few hours at the Tiergarten for an outing if you are in Berlin. There is something here for everyone!

Tschüss for now!