Rise and Shine at Gasthaus Hoerger.

View out the back door of our room.

Morning came too quickly and yet not quickly enough. Unfortunately, my delightful roommate snored more than she thought. It seemed as if it lasted all night, hence it was a long one, but I could have used way more sleep, hence it wasn't long enough. We took turns showering and using the mirror, and when we were all ready, we headed over to the main building for breakfast.

Breakfast room (without patrons).

Several members of our group were already seated at the small tables in the sunny breakfast room. A  tantalizing display of organic yogurts, cereals, croissants and hard-rolls, fruits and (sadly) processed (but organic) meats awaited us. I didn't realize at this point that we could also order eggs of all kinds, so I picked a croissant with homemade jams, yogurt, several slices of local cheeses, and herb tea. A shiny, red apple from the Hoerger's orchard made it into my pocket for a snack later in the day.

Mary Ellen and I arrived at the bus in plenty of time and settled into our seats for the drive into the city. We were joined by Georg Efner, who would be with us for many of our jaunts around Bavaria. Georg is co-owner (with his new girlfriend, Gudrun) of Rottaler Aromaole, a small essential oil company based in Southern Germany.

Hairy cacti.

Our first stop, as the skies turned grayer, was the Munich Botanical gardens. First we went into one of the enormous greenhouses (Greenhouse A) that displayed drought-tolerant plants. This included strange cacti with prickly appendages that looked like noses and others that sported fuzzy "hair" tumbling down the sides.

Flowers like Amish bonnets.

In the orchid house, I was enchanted by a tree with unusual, bonnet-like flowers. Since my little digital camera was new to me, I had a difficult time focusing properly to get a good shot of the amazing blossoms dangling above our heads, but here's what I ended up with:

Monika and Kurt had been to the gardens a few weeks before to check out the lay-of-the-land and were anxious to see if the lotus flowers in the Victoria House were blooming yet. When we came to the large, rectangular pond, we were greeted  by several  fuchsia, purple and white lotus blossoms rising through the surface of the water and a sea of Victoria water lilies pads. We spent quite a bit of time enjoying their beauty and serenity. According to the Botanical Gardens' website, the Victoria water lily leaves can grow to be as big as 2 meters in diameter and can actually support the weight of a small child (don't think I'd want to test that one out!).  The grid-like pattern in the photos of the pond, a reflection of the greenhouse ceiling, creates an interesting geometric pattern.

I probably took enough pictures to fill an entire blog with photographs. In fact, Georg had to come after me to shoo me out to the next part of the gardens, assuring me that we would be able to come back. The next blog post will be of botanicals that most essential oil enthusiasts will recognize.

  Variegated Victoria water lily pads.