Schwerin, Monday 29 June 2009

I had a week off from work and used the wonderful summer weather for several day trips to the neighbouring federal states. On this Monday I went to Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which boasted this year's Bundesgartenschau (Federal Garden Show) in the centre of the town, which is the Castle Park premises and the surrounding areas. I arrived in the middle of the noon heat, people licking ice-cream and stroling along the flower patches, chatting, putting their noses into the buds or simply relaxing in one of the many deck chairs placed on the lawns. The area was huge. It took me till 7 pm to see all of it without taking much time to sit down, but taking a lot of time to dwell on the beautiful flora,  enjoying the fragrances and taking hundreds of photos.

As a result I will do a couple of tabblos on the different garden themes of the Bundesgartenschau. This one is about the "Garden of the 21st Century". Be welcome and walk with me.

Schwerin has a lovely Old Town, which invites people for a stroll throught the streets. Lots of the buildings are used by the government now, but there are restaurants here and there asking you to sit down, smaller shops to go press your nose against the window. However, when going through these roads on a weekend evening they appear a bit too quiet and lifeless. Well, it's nothing to wonder about. Being surrounded by seven lakes many people dwell outdoors, walking, cycling or paddling.

Entering the "Garden of the 21st Century" my first spotting was not some enticing plant but a couple of breeding great crested grebes in the ditch.

The "Garden of the 21st Century" was an arrangement of flowerbeds, which were held in a certain shade of colour surrounded by shattered glass. Barefoot walkers might have second thoughts about walking on glass, but it might be a decorative way to keep thiefs away from your house.

The insects were appreciating the garden show as much as the human visitors.

Dominating the scenery: Schwerin castle, seat of the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In its current state it was built in 1857 by the order of grand duke Friedrich Franz II. It was reinaugurated on the 35th birthday of his wife Auguste.

Apart from the parliament it contains a really interesting museum, which I visited first November in 1989 in my last year of school and the last year of the GDR. Just a month before the change of the German world started in Prague and Leipzig. On the last day of our study trip (which was already planned a year before, when nobody even imagined, what would happen) our bus driver offered us to do an extra tour to Berlin, for there were rumours, that the Brandenburger Tor might be opened that day. I wasn't, but it was such an exciting feeling to get there. When he was stopped by the GDR police for driving too fast on the transit road back to Hamburg, the whole bus of pupils collected the money to pay his ticket.

The

growing-up

of a flower

A last glance at the "Garden of the 21st Century" and the skyline of Schwerin, before I pass through the gateway into the castle garden.