A glorious day!

Friday
Today was another lovely sunny day, though quite windy at times which cooled things down a bit. We again headed north for the day, but today to Columbus, the state capitol, to visit Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The park and conservatory have an interesting history. In 1852, the Franklin County Agriculture Society purchased 88 acres of land two miles east of downtown Columbus to host the first Franklin County Fair. By 1874, the land was increased in size to 93 acres and made the official site of the Ohio State Fair. The state fair occupied the site until 1884, when it moved to a new location north of Columbus. With the change, the lot was abandoned, But in 1886, the site was officially revived when the State Legislature passed a resolution declaring it open for use as a public park.
In 1893, the city was inspired by the Chicago's World Fair to create a horticulture building modeled after the Exposition's Glass Palace. This glass structure, built in the grand Victorian style, was erected in Franklin Park and opened to the public in 1895 as the Franklin Park Conservatory.
In 1992, Columbus hosted AmeriFlora '92 and chose Franklin Park and the conservatory as the host site for this six-month international horticulture exposition. In preparation, renovation of the historic Palm House and a $14 million expansion began in 1989.
The conservatory contains more than 400 plant species. Biomes representing global climate zones include Himalayan Mountains, Tropical Rainforest, Desert, and Pacific Island Water Garden, as well as the Palm Garden in the original historic building. In addition to all the plants, it is also a showcase for numerous Dale Chihuly glass art works. Then on top of all that, they currently have their butterfly show on. So with all that to see, as well as all the Spring blooms outside, I took loads of pictures, and not even a collage was enough, so I have put an extra, featuring some of the butterflies as an extra. I’ve also added another extra in remembrance of this particular day, Good Friday - the plant known as Crown of Thorns, Euphorbia milii, with its thorny stem and bright red brachts.
It was late afternoon/early evening once we were finished there, so we drove into German village, and had an early German dinner at Schmidt’s Sausage house before driving home.