MUNICH BOTANICAL GARDEN by JBC

I got the opportunity to travel to Europe last January and spent one of the weeks near Munich, Germany for business. I had a weekend to myself. Saturday found me down in Austria to see the Alps and some interesting looking castles from way back. The Bavarian countryside was quite pretty despite the winter harshness. It actually wasn't too bleak. Above freezing, anyway and no precipitation. Someone had suggested that I go see these castles as well as seeing the Munich Botanical Garden. So on Sunday, I drove in to Munich from the outlying town I was staying in.

I gotta tell you that I had a difficult time in Germany with the language and the food. But I just love driving there. On the autobahn, you can drive really fast and still be in the way. I got up to 140 mph a few times but mostly drove around 100 mph which was relatively slow. Felt safe because everyone stays right except to pass. Anyway, I found my way to the gardens and parked across the street. The Greenhouse was right in from the entrance and cost three dollars to go in. It was magnificent. The entrance room is a big room with a high ceiling. All cactus and succulents. Orchid room off to the right and some other room with another category to the left. And you went from one room in the middle to an adjoining one which had one or two side rooms off each side. The side rooms had shorter ceilings. My favorite of course was the Orchid room. It was difficult to get good photos since most of the very exotic ones were behind glass. Their collection of cactus and succulents is probably the most extensive one I have ever seen. If you love flowers and ever get to Munich, you must see this place. Oh, I forgot to mention the room devoted to butterflies. No flash photography in there though and it was always crowded which kept the little beauties constantly flying around or off to heights to escape the throngs of people. I just looked without taking any photos since the light was quite poor.

I spent over 6 hours in there in total bliss. I was actually leaving early because the woman at the entrance told me no flash photography, even though I saw several people using one throughout the greenhouse. The only room marked with a circle/slash over a camera was the butterfly room, but she had said no flash. Then as I was leaving, I commented to her about other people and she said she meant only in the butterfly room. So I happily pulled out my flash and went back in for another round. I took about 180 digital images with a Nikon D1X. One roll of 35mm slides. Still haven't processed it yet. I love flowers. One last note, the images here are low resolution. I am always happy to sell the real thing.