Picketts in Poland: Day 3 in Berlin, Germany

Since living in Europe, I have enjoyed attending Sunday church services in other countries. We began our Sunday walking towards the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saint chapel to attend church together.

This Sunday was the first Sunday of July so the Sacrament Meeting (worship service) we attended was a Testimony meeting. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing the members of this German congregation share their testimonies of Jesus Christ, his gospel and the blessings the gospel of Jesus Christ brings in their lives.

We were so glad we had attended this church service in Berlin,Germany!

As we exited the building, on a table in the foyer were two books we recognized (hymnal and Book of Mormon) though printed in the German language.

As we walked towards our hotel, we found more bear statues….

and a lot of hydrangea bushes. I thought of Caroline (our daughter in law) as these were her favorite choice of flowers

for her wedding and reception.

After church, we spent the afternoon traveling to Marzahn, Germany ( a small town on the outskirts of Berlin) where we explored and walked around the "Garten Der Welt" (Gardens of the World) .

This is a large park dedicated to 9 different cultural gardens. Each of the gardens were designed and built by architects and artisans using materials from their own countries in unique ways.

The gardens originally began as "Marzahn Recreation Park" in 1987 when the city of Berlin was still divided in celebration of the 750th anniversary of Berlin.

Then in 2000 the park's first cultural garden was established…the Chinese Gardens called "Garden of the Reclaimed Moon". It was a symbol of the reunification of the city of Berlin. The moon to Chinese scholars is the symbol for perfect harmony and unity of the world.

Over the next 13 years more cultural gardens were created and in 2014 the English Gardens should be opened for public viewing.

The Oriental Gardens

Beautiful tiles, archways and gardens...

It became apparent that gardens, beauty and peaceful places are popular in many if not all cultures.

Beautiful flowing water...

Plants of all sizes...

Walking down pathways towards another garden area….

European Garden Art….Maze and Labyrinth
We tried to walk through the maze below but my sister Rebecca and I were not successful.
It doesn't look difficult but it was a challenge

Only Becca made it to the center…

She later told us she too had to start over and only made it to the center by looking at the picture she had taken of the map on her Ipad. I had been in a hedge maze before…but for some reason this one was much harder to navigate through!

Across the maze is an interesting labyrinth…I walked to the center…

Rebecca and Becca did the complete mental walk

You have to be very patient walking towards the center and back out again.

We were all successful…

Italian Renaissance Gardens

Artisans created typical gardens that one might see in Italy and surrounding areas.

Chinese Gardens

The largest of the cultural gardens...

The first to be built at the "Gardens of the World"

The artisans, gardeners and architects used rocks, plants, and materials from each cultural area

Even these large rocks came from China!

Peaceful places were in each garden area

The Christian Gardens

This area was most interesting…not so much for the plants and their designs, but for the tall golden metal borders surrounding this area. Occasionally ….I could pick out a word or two I recognized.