June 20, 2024
Planten un Blomen - Hamburg's Botanical Gardens
After the soccer game, we took advantage of the late summer daylight hours here in Northern Germany. We strolled the gardens for an hour and then found seating in the grassy area, surrounding the lake, to await the nightly fountain show. Can you believe it is 10 pm when show started! Look how bright the skies are! At 10:30, as we made our way home, darkness finally comes. Sunrise starts at 4:50 a.m.! I wear an eye mask to bed each night. Crazy German Summer!
We spent our last day in Adelaide exploring the downtown. It was an easy and convenient, 1/2 hour train ride from the port into the CBD. The University had a lot of interesting architecture and it was a nice quiet Saturday to walk around. The River Torrens runs through the campus and provides a many pathways to enjoy.
In the parking lot of the Cube there was another bonus art installation, and this one was much better known by me, Dr. Seuss !
The d'Arenberg Cube in the famed Barossa Valley w as the draw for me here; the wine tasting was an added bonus! The 15M AUD Cube was built in 2017, from the vision of 4th generation winemaker, Chester Osbourn , who likened the solving of a Rubik's cube to winemaking. The avant garde glass, concrete and steel visitor center is 5 stories tall with the top floor tasting room offering panoramic views over the McLaren vale vineyards, the Willunga Hills and the Gulf St. Vincent . The other floors house the Alternate Realitites Museum , a contemporary art gallery, bars, a fine dining restaurant, a virtual reality experience and a wine sensory room. There is currently a Salvador Dali Universe exhibit on a 2 year lease, with some of the artist's sculptures and graphics.