Humble Japanese Gardens

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Today we drove out to the Japanese Gardens in Kaiserslautern with Matt and Maria. The Gardens looked quite impressive on their website, especially with the waterfall, Zen Gardens, lovely trees and pretty Tea House. It was, though, smaller than I had expected. It was certainly quite peaceful in some of the quaint corners, or when shrouded by trees and bushes, but we were plagued by almost constant views of the surrounding city. The Gardens were built on a hill and so most of the scenery that included a downhill view was framed with the buildings of Kaiserslautern. Even up the hill were many homes built right up to the fencing. It was a neat experience, but I would have enjoyed it more had more of the trees been alive (I mistakenly assumed it was already spring) or even if the tiny snack kiosk had actually been open and we could have enjoyed a cup of coffee while sitting around the koi pond or near the soothing waterfall. Either way, it began to rain, so we drove over to Chili’s for an early dinner.

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Photos

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
The Tea House.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Reflections.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Pathway.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Bridge.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Looking down from the bridge at the waterfall.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
This photo demonstrates that the gardens were actually quite peaceful, but it was just too hard to ignore the city perpetually in the background - the problem with building the gardens on a hill overlooking the city and not building the walls quite high enough.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Another Pathway.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Looking down at the main entrance, including the little wooden ticket booth, and, of course, the city of Kaiserslautern just beyond (and almost on top of) the bamboo walls.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
The Zen Garden.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
The Rock Garden. Though, because the trees were still dead, it looked a bit more like a graveyard to me.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Looking down the hill from the Rock Garden.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Hidden fountain.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Little tree by the Tea House desperately trying to blossom.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
The inside of the Tea House, which we could not enter.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
Inside the Tea House.

Japanese Gardens Kaiserslautern
By the Tea House.

And Just For Good Measure...
...Us.