We had no events scheduled for today, so we decided to take it easy and enjoy the warm, sunny weather. After breakfast, we hopped on a train to the Berlin Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum for an opportunity to stop and smell the roses. Unfortunately a large part of the park was closed due to construction and renovation. What we could see was lovely and made a nice break from all our indoor activities. The rose garden was particularly impressive with its low bushes and pergolas covered with blooms and the walkways lined with lavender plants.

We spent several hours strolling through the Botanic Garden and then went back to the hotel to watch some tennis and soccer on TV (something we didn’t need an English translation to understand). There’s a grocery store across the street from our hotel, so we decided to grab some sandwiches, fruit, and a bottle of wine and have dinner in our room. In all, it was a restful day that we both needed.

Tomorrow we will visit the Futurium and maybe learn a thing or two before we head to Deutsche Oper for our final opera in the Wagner Ring Cycle, Götterdämmerung.