Audi 2009 Annual Report Download - page 58

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under blooming fruit trees, visitors could hardly ask for
more. In the end, it always seems to be this very longing
for a little nature within the megalopolis that makes
these “green lungs” such coveted places, and why busi-
ness people are unable to resist going there between
meetings, even if it’s only a for a couple of minutes.
This is the way it is all over the world, including Sydney,
Australia. For their lunch breaks, the city’s business peo-
ple have several piers and highly stylish harbor cafés to
choose from. But they prefer to lie on a picnic blanket
in Hyde Park and watch the cockatoos as they scurry
through the tops of the trees, swooping daringly like
remote-controlled model planes.
How very different Ryoan-ji Garden in Kyoto is! It’s not a
city park in the western sense, but rather a Zen garden
about which books are written and philosophers ponder.
You don’t have to know anything about the art of Zen to
enjoy it – a 20-minute lunch break is enough. Business
people and ordinary Kyoto residents stroll through its
finely raked gravel paths and gaze at its pruned shrubs or
the famous gravel bed with stones that symbolize either
the universe or vast emptiness – all or nothing. Zen gar-
dens are places that have escaped from the world’s hustle
and bustle. They have managed to thwart today’s hectic
pace and get away from everyday commotion and the
noise of machinery.
Interestingly, these sanctuaries of calm are often the very
scene of turbulent activity. Places where the noise of the
outside world has vanished – but the disquiet of the mind
remains. You can observe this very well on a warm, late-
summer’s day – on the grass of Munich’s English Garden,
for example. This is also one of the world’s famous city
gardens, and moreover was one of the first to be opened
to the public at the end of the 18th century. Its popular-
ity has continued to this day, with thousands of Munich
residents taking advantage on beautiful late-summer
days. Sitting there, with shoes and socks off and your
toes in the grass, it is quiet, peaceful, and yet thoughts
are running riot in your mind. They collide against each
other, voices clatter, whisper, purr, scream and shriek.
Those who seek quiet often only hear themselves to start
with. But even this noise becomes muffled; it just takes a
bit longer sometimes. Often we’re not even aware of it 
In the late 18th century, Munich’s
English Garden was one of the first
city gardens in the world to be
opened to the general public.