Easter Sunday in the Luisenpark in Mannheim

Easter Sunday began with beautiful and sunny weather, so we went for a stroll in the park. Although Luisenpark was created in the late 19th century, it was remodeled to its current shape in 1975 for the German Federal Garden Show. Therefore the park is filled with quite a lot of attractions, tea houses, art and animals.

We made a boat trip to the other side of the park:

on our way we met some pale flamingoes:

The tour ended at the botanical glass houses that not only showcase plants but also reptiles, snakes, fishes and the like. I'm not very fond of animals in captivity, but we went to have a look anyways:

alligator

giant piranha

 

Axolotls, Mexican mole salamanders, completely aquatic and gilled

 At least the butterflies seemed to be happy and contended:

Much more fun was the stork's nest on top of an aviary. You can watch them hatching their eggs via a live webcam. We also enjoyed a rhubarb drink at a lake café

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Luisenpark_Pflanzenschauhaus_05.jpg

With our drinks came a free 'concerto' from a frog chorus :)
We slowly walked back through 42 acres of park and arrived at the telecommunication's tower with its revolving restaurant on top. As you can see, the weather wasn't all that warm anymore and we just arrived back home before the rain and thunderstorm began.