A Garden in Flight

By Beth Green

Changi Butterfly Garden,
Photo by Beth Green

Downy wings fluttering, tiny legs trembling on neon tropical flowers: There’s something soothing about watching butterflies flit around.

And, traveler, where do you most need to feel calm?

Maybe in the middle of your next intercontinental trip.

Visit the butterfly garden at Changi International Airport in Singapore (airport code: SIN) to momentarily forget the stresses of air travel. Lost luggage, stiff-lipped security guards, and the ubiquitous crying baby three seats in front of you will all seem like part of a far-away world after spending time watching a garden in flight.

Located in Terminal Three, the Changi Butterfly Garden has almost 50 kinds of butterflies. The insects swoop, glide, and dart freely among the flowers and plants of this airport grotto. And, unlike most things associated with air travel these days, entrance to the garden doesn’t even cost one shiny Singapore dollar.

The garden from the upper level.

The garden is two-tiered, with a waterfall and a staircase connecting the levels. On the top, visitors get a bird’s-eye (or is it butterfly’s-eye?) view of the downstairs and a real feel for how amazingly many butterflies are loose in the garden. If you stand still enough, one of the thousand or so free-flying butterflies might perch on something of yours that’s brightly colored for a moment or two. Of course, that makes a long visit by butterfly standards, as most butterflies have a lifespan of less than two (human) weeks.

Butterfly lunch.

The bottom level of the garden is surrounded by greenery and tinted glass so that you feel completely immersed in a jungle. From the top of the stairs, however, you get a glimpse of the outside airstrip and airport workings—a truly a unique chance to contemplate the world of flight by comparing delicate butterflies and behemoth jetliners.

Downstairs, curious travelers can watch butterflies feeding on sticky sweet pineapple rounds, peek into hutches where pupae cocoon and morph, and read educational signboards about their fluttering friends.

Taking flight.

It’s also downstairs that you can see examples of jungle noir—carnivorous “monkey cups,” the dipper-shaped, insect-eating plants native to SE Asia. If it seems a bit “Little Shop of Horrors” to put these hungry flora in with the swirling cloud of resident butterflies, don’t think about the fact that in the wild some of these plants also consume vertebrates. 

The Butterfly Garden is one reason why Changi Airport is one of my favorite airports to route through. Other reasons include the airport’s orchid garden, koi pond, interactive art exhibits and entertainment deck—all free of charge to enter.

The Garden of the Tsars

By Kelly Raftery

I was seventeen the first time I traveled to the Soviet Union. It was the late 1980s and I had just graduated high school with a load of Russian classes under my belt. My class trip flew to West Berlin then took the train to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg.)  When we arrived, it was late June and that magical time of year they call “White Nights” was just starting. During this time of year, the sun never really sets and Russia’s Venice of the North is bathed in an ethereal glow. It was my first time abroad and predictably, I fell in love.

But I fell in love not with a boy, or even a girl, but with a place.  That love has endured for all these years and I will, unhesitatingly tell anyone who asks that my favorite place in the whole wide world is Peterhof. 

Overview of Peterhof from Chess Mountain.

Peter the Great created his Northern capital out of swampland and sheer stubbornness. Once he was done laying out the street plan and forcing his nobles to relocate, he then looked to developing sites further away from the city. In the early 1700s, Peter chose a site across the Gulf of Finland to build his Monplaisir Palace. Over the years, Peter’s ancestors continued to develop the site and today, the 250 acre grounds include multiple palaces, almost two hundred fountains and an incredible number of statues. The palace interiors are spectacular in their own right, having been lovingly recreated after the Nazis destroyed Peterhof, but my true love lies with the gardens and fountains. 

The spectacular centerpiece of the park is the Grand Cascade, which celebrates a Russian victory over the Swedes. This enormous fountain tumbles down from the Grand Palace to the Sea Canal consists of 64 different fountains and 200 statues and other decorations.  The focal point of the entire ensemble is a statue of Samson prizing open the jaws of a lion, from which a 20 foot fountain of water shoots skyward.

Topmost part of the Grand Cascade Fountain.

Detail of Samson and Lion, 
center of the Grand Cascade.

As spectacular as Samson is, I must admit that it was the trick fountains that I found the most interesting my first visit. In the older, Lower Park, trick fountains of various kinds were constructed to entertain (and soak) unsuspecting royal guests. In one fountain, water sprays out of harmless looking trees and eternally blooming flowers.  

Water sprays from fir trees, drenching passers-by.

Another fountain consists of giant umbrellas surrounded by rings of stones. When the water stops flowing over the top, people dash under cover, delighted when the water begins to fall all around them. But then, they are trapped until someone outside finds the proper stone that when depressed, will  stop the water again, enabling a dry escape. 

Umbrella fountains keep running, 
until someone finds the trick.

As I grew older, on subsequent visits, I became interested in the other fountains. I developed a certain fondness for Chess Mountain and the dragon that perches at the top. In a clash of symbols, a sun fountain competes with a pyramid not far from the Roman fountains. I learned more about all the statues that people the park, from Adam and Eve to Neptune, Bacchus and Narcissus. 

Narcissus stares at his own beauty in the water's reflection.

One of the facts I found most interesting was that all the fountains are run without a single pump. Originally built with wooden pipes, all the fountains are supplied by a gravity-based system that can operate up to ten hours a day. One very memorable late afternoon visit, I was wandering the gardens alone and hidden behind  a hedge I found a stooped old man, hunched over what looked like a large key he was screwing into the ground. As I stood there, watching him curiously, I realized that what he was doing was turning off the flow of water to the fountains, in the same way it had been done for hundreds of years. It struck me as a moment of continuity in a quickly changing world. 

Just once in your life, you must visit Peterhof during White Nights and let yourself get carried away by the magic. Permit your imagination to supply royal ladies adorned in powdered wigs and layers of petticoats flitting through the gardens. And when you are there, stand under an umbrella fountain once for me. Someone will eventually find the right stone, I promise.

A virtual walking tour of Peterhof can be found at this link:

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/gallery/russian-highlights/peterhof-palace.html

An incredible gallery of photos can be found here:

http://www.ticketsofrussia.com/peterhof/gallery/