Schrebergarten’s are a delightful German invention. From Spiegel The Schrebergarten phenomenon is not a new one. Dr. Daniel Gottlieb Moritz Schreber, a 19th century naturopath, wanted to create more athletic fields for the children in his home city of Leipzig. He died in 1861 before the plan could be realized, but his son-in-law got the ball rolling in 1864 and before long, small vegetable plots were planted in the fields as well to teach the children the basics of gardening. …. The result today are thousands of garden colonies on the outskirts of big cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland that look more like miniature housing developments than peaceful nature retreats. For the most part, the colonies are no longer residential, but in the summertime, they are packed with families enjoying the sunshine, crammed onto their tiny plots grilling, eating and relaxing.
And Heidi and Jurgen have a Schrebergarten – a very well tended exceedingly comfortable one. They invited us over – we knew the day would be off to a good start when Jurgen offered Sharon a crack of 11.30am beer!
After an afternoon of chilling we joined Ronny, Nicole and Helene for a tour of the southern part of Leipzig to look at an old castle and the lake district. Then for dinner.
A spooky Tree of Life mural at the Schrebergarten
I didn’t know what to expect. This was so cool
Look at the pride that went into all the stuff here!
Darts to occupy time
Food with plants and fruit from the Schrebergarten of course!
Table football to occupy time
and then more food. Oh boy can Jurgen cook. This was full-on Saxony. Goulash and red cabbage. With huge potatoballs
Burp!
Ronny, Nicole and Helene took us for a drive and we had to go for a walk after to recover in the late afternoon. Again wonderful weather
Helene wandering around and wondering how near she can get to the swans
Pretty near!
Then off to have dinner and check out Ronny’s cool Ossi bike
The next day before hopping on the DB to Berlin we checked out St Thomas and St Nicholas Church. Here’s St Thomas
400 year old kaffee haus in Leipzig