If you are a new parent, expecting or just know someone who is, jump over to my new giveaway for two super cute sets of baby clothes! Open to all EU residents.

Green. During the warm months, it seems to be all around us. Unless you live in a concrete jungle or Texas.

Since we’re new to Berlin, many might think that we’ve lost most of our hope of seeing green around us until we go on vacation — but to be honest, I’ve rarely ever seen a city as green as Berlin.

Many streets near us are lined with large trees, and the huge Tiergarten park is just a few minutes walk from us. But spaces like the one in the photo above are also everywhere — and this is just an esplanade between two rather busy 3-lane streets right around the corner for us. It’s just enough green space to walk the dog.

And not only is it grassy green, but it’s actually full of trees and vegetation.

And, lucky for me, it had just rained when I thought about doing my “assignment” on Thursday. While I would have loved to get some of those big-raindrops-on-the-leaves shots, having the dog and Mack in tow was hampering me.

But I did end up with a lot of shots I liked. And I had to wonder if people thought I was some weird tourist on the street taking photos of leaves and rocks, or if I was just unbalanced to begin with. 🙂

One of my favorite green things in Berlin, though, is most definitely the Ampelmänner.  They are leftover from when Berlin was divided into East and West — and we actually have a few around us. They are so very cool and an entire franchise has been built around them. Basically, they are the cross-walk lights that you have at every intersection…but these guys with their little hats are far cooler than any of the boring, run of the mill people you generally see at the lights.

And naturally, I couldn’t leave out Mack and her love of green while painting. 🙂