DER ENGLISCHER GARTEN

(Monopteros, a sweet little structure in the middle of the vast park)


(I join in on the lounge -- and get sunburned)


(is this not the cutest sign?)

Munich is a delightful little town -- it's kinda nice to be somewhere mellow after London and Paris -- two cities with so much to do and think about. The reason why we're here is to see part one of Neo Rauch's painting retrospective. We are now on our way to Leipzig to see part two.

Neo is the undisputed king of contemporary painting, and the Englischer Garten is the undisputed queen of sprawling parks! It is a huge space, named so not because and English person established it, but because it is in the English design -- a big area with lakes, moving water, little niches, small gardens, structures, lanes, etc. What it DOES have that no British park that I know of has, is three Beer Gardens -- little cafes within the park with hammocks and beer and other goodies. It's brilliant! We both took in a big lay-down after our scrumptious picnic (bread, cheese and pesto) and then drew/water-colored the Monopteros, a neo-classical small dome with columns (see first photo). It was the perfect couple of hours. I do love a good park.
Thinking about it makes me long for Laurelhurst and Forest Park, in Portland. And a good stroll and swing in Shoreline, the park of my Santa Barbara childhood.

Do you have a favorite park?

My other most-beloved park -- maybe the best park on Earth -- is Vondel Park, in Amsterdam -- where small groups of friends ate cupcakes and cookies from nooks in the trees, ducks led their goslings through the small river, lined with willows and we bicycled and napped till the sun went down.