Category Archives: Surroundings
A short walk in a loop from Neuruppin, 10 March 2022
I needed to clear my head in some real nature, so took the S-Bahn from Anhalter Bahnhof to Hennigsdorf and from there RE6 to Neuruppin. I should have planned it better and not done a loop, because most of the way back to Neuruppin was on a road, because of the usual scandal in so many places in Berlin and Brandenburg: No public access to the shore. I know I am starting to sound like a broken record but I just find that unbelievable.
But Neuruppin itself was a pleasant surprise, very clean and with many old, recently restored houses. Perhaps a bit too picturesque for my taste, but lovely for a short visit. And there are several Vietnamese restaurants there :-). I of course had a late-ish lunch in one of them before heading back to Berlin.
Links to some of the venues depicted:
Soviet War Cemetery (not yet vandalised …..)
Jahnbad Neuruppin (Having grown up swimming in the sea in summer and in swimming pools in winter, I cannot for the life of me understand how people can bring themselves to bathe and swim in freshwater lakes with muddy bottoms – ew!)
Alt-Ruppin from across the water
Hotel Hubertus – apparently being converted into flats
Sneaking in a diptych – just one this time:
Empty nest, a couple of daytrips, and an “in-person” photography course
I will be attending a photography course which will run all day and, apparently, on some days also into the evening. I therefore will not have time to take proper care of Max, so he is now on holiday, with some extra days because they were unable to pick him up closer to the days I actually needed him looked after.
He was in the same place for the same number of days in December. Back then, I tried not to feel bad about it, since I was attending a course in Amrum to which I had signed up long before I knew of Max’s existence, and I was also so exhausted that I only had one clear thought – to flop down into the seat on that train and be transported like a zombie to the North Sea. It seemed like there was just no other option.
This time, I feel worse 🙂 although only about half as tired (perhaps Max is slowly turning into a much less exhausting flatmate). But I know he is in good and loving hands in the countryside, with Lucky Dog Berlin, far away from the mean streets of Kreuzberg, playing with other dogs, going for walks off-leash, and actually in exactly the kind of setting I was once hoping to find for him as a permanent home. And sometimes still am, on bad days, after difficult walks – dreaming of that kind of life on his behalf. It pains me to think about it, and I would only part ways with him if somebody could offer exactly that, as well as a poolside bar, a spa, and a private race course. Just kidding, but you know what I mean. In the unlikely event that such an opportunity came up, I would have to think of what is best for Max. And Lindenstraße is not it. But I really miss him this time.
Anyway, although Thursday 3 March was a cold and misty day, (but not at all windy, and you can’t have everything), I decided to live dangerously and took the S-Bahn to Friedrichshagen, partly to have another look at the cafés and many nice little shops in the very pleasant Bölschestraße, and partly to go for a walk along the eastern shore of Müggelsee (although the light conditions were less than ideal for for example bird photography, fog can make for some quite atmospheric photos).
But first I took this photo from my balcony, before it became clear how foggy it would get:
Here is my route on mapmywalk.
Moving on to Friday 4 March.
I went to Tierpark (Europe’s biggest landscape zoo) in order to see the new “Himalaya” area on the hill at the back of the park, to take some animal portraits there, and to have lunch in one of the cafés. Not only did it turn out that “Himalaya” is still under construction, but the nicest cafés are also not yet open, and in any case, I arrived there to realise that I had brought three lenses and no camera.
There is no mention of an opening date in either of those cases, and this being Germany, they don’t bother with minor-yet-good-to-know details like that on their website.
Anyway, it was a nice walk and good to see Tierpark again. I took these two photos with my phone:
Nearly back home, I took these photos. The first one is the remains of Berlin’s medieval wall, and the other one I’m sure needs no introduction:
And posted this on Facebook:
“Dear Max, I solemnly swear that I will never again be annoyed when you follow me around wherever I go in the flat, or when you wake me up in the middle of the night for a cuddle (or to make sure that she who feeds you is still alive), or when you act like it nearly killed you to be left alone for half an hour. Please just continue to be you when you come back from your holiday in the countryside. It is too quiet and empty here right now.”
Saturday, 5 March
Trying to psyche myself up to attending an “in-person” course. Last time I did that was in Corona-free Amrum. This time it is here in Corona-ridden Berlin – Charlottenburg to be specific. This is the course. My very first course with Artistravel, probably about six years ago, with Martin Timm, also took place here in Berlin, in that same place, so for some strange reason, even after all this time, they are still holding their Berlin courses in non-descript Charlottenburg ??? There is nothing there, except the smaller of Berlin’s two zoos, and an ugly castle, and it is far away from everything. And since we will probably be doing quite a lot of walking in class, it is a little bit too far to walk both ways, so I will need to use public transport.
The nearby Besselpark, redesigned about a year ago, is named after the astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, hence the kind of starshaped bed of white croci on the lawn:
These photos are not as sinister as they look. They are just bad photos of a crow taking off from the scaffolding next door. Or is it art?
Sunday, 6 March
Unspeakably sad and hopping mad in equal measure.
I went for a walk around Königs Wusterhausen (a twenty minute ride from Alexanderplatz on the regional train). Nice walk, weather not so great but at least not raining, and an unexpectedly delicious lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant called Yammy.
The train back (originating from Cottbus) was packed with people with lots of luggage. The types of luggage and the fact that they were almost all asleep made it clear that they were Ukrainians. Stupidly, I had not considered that on the way out but of course there are many ways of getting to Berlin from Ukraine. The look in their eyes when they did open them ….. Damn you Putin!
I was reminded of my first months after moving to Berlin, six years ago now, when I started to come into contact with quite a few refugees from Syria. The stories …. Many of them young families, encouraged by the grandparents to leave – “we are too old to start over, but you must move yourselves and our grandchildren to safety”. How heartbreaking is that? The men left, often with other, much younger, male members of the family in their care – some as young as eight, nine, ten years old. They travelled to Europe via the Mediterranean Express (and as we all know, not all of them survived), and in most cases, the wives and daughters were able to join them here after about 18 months – in some cases on a journey the initial part of which was not much less perilous than the one crossing the Mediterranean in so-called boats.
All the families I know of have done OK, and the children are doing well in school, but they definitely had a difficult start here. One of the families, and a father and son from Palestine, remain my friends. Because this whole world is so discriminatory and racist, the Ukrainians are going to have an easier start here, which is not to say there will not be challenges. On top of all the grief and sorrow.
To say that the Syrians fled because of one maniacal, psychotic despot is probably simplifying the complex situations in the Middle East, but the Ukrainians are definitely doing just that. Why doesn’t somebody poison him? Poisoned tea is a Russian speciality. Granted, terrified of Covid, he is still living in strict isolation – remember the ridiculously long table? – but somebody must have access to him. Or does his paranoia extend to making his own tea?
I am again thinking of the inequalities in the world. I was privileged to grow up in Denmark in the 1950s and -60s. It does not get much better than that. My parents had gone to school for eights years only and were not wealthy, but that did not matter – with free education and free health care, the general ideal that there must not be too big a gap between rich and poor, penicillin already freely available, Europe’s last polio epidemic behind us, all the civil and political rights served to us on a silver platter, and no war in our backyard until the one in the Balkans – and now this – I have never had to fight for any damn thing, let alone wonder where the next meal was going to come from. I definitely got the best years, ever, anywhere.
And for me, moving to Berlin was a conscious decision and a long-held dream. Not the lesser of two evils as was the case for most Syrians.
And now I shall try to get my head around processing the silly, unimportant photos I took today, and the equally silly, unimportant course that starts tomorrow.
Next to the town of Königs Wusterhausen is a lock, and a “deerpark”. I did not see any deer, not even any birds, but I did see some ancient trees, and a couple of the sculptures for which the area is apparently famous.
Crossing Fischerinsel by Spittelmarkt U-Bahn station, the resident herons were prancing around. Someone told me that one of them is called Max.
Monday 7 March
On this day six years ago, I posted this on Facebook. I am seeing the start of something similar now:
“I am totally in awe of the drive, initiative, resourcefulness, and organisational and other talents of the “local heroes” I meet while familiarising myself with the many initiatives to support refugees in Berlin. And most of them are not even that local but have not lived in Berlin or even Germany for very long, but, completely undaunted by the “where the heck do we start” feeling and the lack of local knowledge, they just decide what they want to do and get on with it, and it is amazing what they achieve, including fundraising and roping in helpers for all sorts of tasks from weekly Saturday afternoon parties and daytrips for refugee children to language teaching, cooking with refugees (they are not allowed to cook in the centres), free psychological clinics and much more. On top of their often completely unrelated day-jobs. Hearing of the needs is still like looking into a bottomless pit (there are currently about 5000 unaccompanied children in Berlin, just to mention one category) but my faith in humanity is renewed after each of these evenings.”
On my way to the “Künstlerhof Lietzow”, at the back of beyond in Charlottenburg, in glorious sunshine, trying to get in photography mode, I took this photo. I then could not make up my mind: colour or black and white, so I made a diptych, just for a change:
Tuesday, 8 March
Not in photography mode, distracted by reports coming through from, a.o., Kreuzberg Hilft on the need for help at the central station and in the refugee centres. Again, it reminds me of the winter 2015-16. Back then, the asylum seekers had to sleep outside (a completely unprepared) LAGESO (and it was a much colder winter) in order to keep their number in the queue for processing. Had it not been for local Berliners stepping up with clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, food and warm drinks, things could have gone terribly wrong.
This time, the central station has been converted into one big dormitory. I am wondering how long that situation is tenable or when daily commuters will start to become less hospitable. And let us not completely forget Covid19 and the fact that the majority of Ukrainians are still unvaccinated.
I took these two photos on the way to the course. The first one is a sign (and a tree) that I must have passed thousands of times but never noticed. I find it slightly odd that Berlin taxi drivers planted a tree outside the Springer Building on the occasion of Springer’s 15th anniversary :-). The second photo will fit nicely into the photo series I am starting (for now entitled “Garbage in trees” for want of a catchier phrase). Berliners are obsessed with balloons. It seems they can’t celebrate anything without them. Even at a time when balloons ought to be on the list of next environmental hazards that should be completely banned. Still, better in a treetop than in the canal.
Still distracted and uninspired, I did take these “Klicheefotos” on the morning outing during the course:
Wednesday, 9 March
Need to skip class today to see how I can help (apart from dropping off a couple of air mattresses and blankets), without actually spending time indoors in what is probably fast becoming a Covid19 cesspool, since I am still determined not to get infected. I know – nowadays trying not to get infected is considered as anti-social as not getting vaccinated …..
Found the time to take some grainy klichée cemetery bird photos:
In any case, I don’t think I’ll ever do another “in-person” course again. Zoom courses are just so much more comfortable. No need for public transport so you save a lot of time. You dont have to schlepp your gear around. You are not stuck in a room with a bunch of strangers. You can get up and walk around a bit while still listening in. No need to take notes since the sessions are recorded. And you can watch the recording at your convenience if you are unable to attend part of them. They also seem a lot more structured. And you don’t have to send your dog away 
.
So it is in Friedrichshagen that it is all happening
Nice place with a surprisingly busy main street with cafés, restaurants (Asian as well as local) and shops (but not the usual H&M variety, and no supermarkets), rather smaller specialty shops, and even a real butcher’s shop. And many people everywhere.
And of course it is right on Müggelsee, which of course is another lake you cannot walk all the way around because people with property next to it are allowed to block passage for us mortals. A scandal, if you ask me, and another thing about Berlin that I will never live to understand.
However, I will be back, for the shops and for those stretches where we are allowed to walk along the lake.
I managed to squeeze in a spicy lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant (by the not very Vietnamese name of Müggelschlösschen) before the 2GPlus rules (sigh) kick in. Recommended.
These two are from Märkisches Ufer on my way home from Jannoritzbrücke S-Bahn Station:
Last walk this year with Berliner Wanderclub
14 December 2021
Organised by Joachim Wenzel, this was more of a Stadtspaziergang, ending, completely by chance, with a very good lunch in Restaurant Schlosspark-Grill. Excellent traditional German and Balkan food and etremely friendly service. We had not reserved a table, and – in proper Christmas lunch mode – the restaurant was really busy, and yet they welcomed and accommodated eleven unannounced wanderers with big smiles. I would go there again any day.
Birkenwerder, Boddensee and Briesetal 4 June 2021
The route on Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/384471362.
Started with a little detour to the Clara Zetkin memorial – Clara-Zetkin-Gedenkstätte – which is a small museum with a library and a sculpture garden. I did not go in, but I think it is open to the public now.
The sculpture boulevard in Birkenwerder:
Bonus tip: There are NO PUBLIC TOILETS in Birkenwerder, and also not really any cafés to stop at, so on the way home I got off at the next station (in the direction of Berlin) where there is a public toilet on the square in front of the station. Also this sculpture:
And almost home, I could not resist getting off the train at S-Bahnhof Pankow-Heinersdorf to take a few photos of the former Güterbahnhof Pankow, soon to be demolished (it seems to be doing a pretty good job at doing that all by itself).
Corona Diary II
From 25 October to 31 December 2020.
TO BE CONTINUED IN CORONA DIARY III.
Continued from “Things I can photograph without leaving home” and “My Corona Diary“.
Now in lockdown 2, spending three to four days in a row at home, avoiding the crowds as well as the U-Bahn – which is probably a cesspool at the best of times. Most of the time only going out to food shop and once or twice a week to the outskirts of Berlin for walks in nature.
31 December
The moon shortly before setting this morning:
I bought these air purifiers and installed them a week ago. They claim to clean the air not only of viruses but also of particles, and since I live in a rather busy street with (far too much) motorised traffice, I thought they might be a good investment even though I have no visitors at all these days/weeks/months/(years?).
According to the instructions, when switched on, they should keep a distance of at least 1 m to walls and other objects, because otherwise, particles risk landing on the surroundings. (So this is a practical issue, and not at all a safety issue). That kind of distance is obviously not always convenient, so I have placed one of them closer to both a wall and to some small tables with white tops. After a week, I am not observing much more dust than normally, so this is a “problem” easily solved by a dust cloth or hoover.
In the photo, they look larger than they are. The tallest one is about 65 cm tall.
Counting the hours till it is no longer too early to open a bottle of champagne (although normally, I am much more of a redwine kinda gal), I am reminded of this famous quote:
30 December
Moon setting across the street.
Today was going to be one of the – to use a term which arose during the first lock-down in spring – “stay-the-f…-home” days, but the weather was too good, so – back to the cemeteries, this time Standort Friedhof Lilienthalstraße and Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof I.
28 December
This morning, BBC World is running a programme called “Europe’s migrant crisis five years later”. This is starting to get on my nerves. Although It is certainly a crisis, to put it mildly, for the migrants, for Europe it is a crisis of xenophobia, bloody-mindedness, mean-spiritedness, inhumanity, and lack of empathy and solidarity, as well as a glaring lack of political will to solve an issue which ought to be a piece of cake for an area as large, wealthy, priviledged, and some even say enlightened (yeah, well, just keep thinking that and it may come true one day) as Europe.
27 December
A few token vaccinations took place yesterday and today, the real “roll-out” starts. According to a plan I saw and posted a few days ago (below), my age group will be vaccinated in August/September.
For now, numbers are still high, and they are talking about extending the current lockdown beyond 10 January.
Although I actually enjoyed the eerie quiet, after four days indoors, I need to get out, and have a walk (with my camera) planned for today, and one (with a friend) planned for tomorrow. That’s two walks in two days. This is turning into an insanely busy schedule.
Oh – nearly forgot: First snow fell yesterday. Did not last long, and did not stay, but for about ten minutes, I saw several children jumping up and down in ecstacy on the balconies across the street :-).
Photos from my walking visit to the cemeteries at Südstern
Since I am not using public transport at all during this lockdown, somebody advised me to go to this place, which is within walking distance for me, for bird photography.
24 December
Playtime!
21 December
Solstice. Feeling pessimistic nonetheless. I fear the next year will be worse than this year, Corona-wise. This virus is mutating faster than rabbits breed, and it is just a matter of time before a new strain appears which is resistant to the known vaccines, if it is not already there.
For me, I feel priviledged to not have to worry about unemployment during this lockdown, and to be able to spend it in a nice home I really like. I have lived my life, fortunate to be born in the best decade and part of the world – the 1950s, Denmark, with all civil and political rights served to me on a silver platter (not to mention a roof over my head, three daily meals, and no wars), never had to fight for anything, so it does not matter whether I live or die. And I have to admit that the thought of being spared the indignities of old age and the ugliness of becoming dependent on other people’s help, is attractive and has been on my mind for a long time already. My mother spent six months in an old peoples’ home before she died and all she talked about was her wish to die and I could not blame her. Ending up in one of those places is indeed a fate worse than death.
However, I feel sorry for all those who thought they had a long life to live, and plans ….. But I just don’t think we can beat this one any time soon. If I am still alive by then, it will be interesting to see whether things really are worse than now on this day next year, or whether I will have been proven wrong.
I am just wondering how long I have to look at all this ugliness. These days, in this restricted, locked-down world, it is easier for me to avoid seeing my own ugly face in the mirror than to see this – first, last, and in between:
20 December
One of the things I have learned during lockdown that I was never aware of is that we need daylight – daily – in order to be able to produce the melatonin which we will need in the evening in order to fall asleep and get a good night’s sleep. (I am not even sure I was fully aware just how important sleep is).
This makes me feel even more priviledged to have a balcony. Even though I want to stick to my self-imposed regime of staying at home about four to five days a week during this lockdown, I have a place to step out onto, away from traffic noise, where I can sit, breathe, watch the clouds float by, read, and hope for a bird or two to turn up for a photo op (even if it is usually only dumb pigeons, and a bit too far away).
19 December
It is strange not to be busy preparing the usual end-of-year parties.
Some years, I have had a pre-Christmas glögg, followed by a curry to balance things out, party. Those have actually been my season’s favourite.
Christmas does not mean much to me, other than an excuse to share good food and wine with family (when I was still living in Denmark), and now friends. As far as I recall, I did not enjoy it much even as a child. I remember it as a time of the year with too many expectations of everything having to be perfect and done in a certain way, not to mention sequence. And as for the infamous Danish Christmas lunches – I always actively hated them and attended as few as possible.
After moving to Luxembourg in January 1976, I and a Danish friend thought it was fun to hold traditional Danish Christmas dinner in early December for non-Danish friends and colleagues, and as far as I recall, we went overboard with the traditions. Of course we all then went our separate ways over the holidays and only came back in early January.
Then, after I moved back to Denmark late 1985, for a number of years while my niece was a child, Christmas Eve was fun. But that is just about the sum of it.
Actually, this Christmas, I would have been spending in Denmark, for once, since my niece had invited me to a combined housewarming and Christmas dinner on 24 December. But that was not to be. A pity in a way, but on the other hand, apart from seeing my brother and his family again, I have no particular desire to visit Denmark.
Since I moved to Berlin in January 2016, every 24 December I have either eaten out with a friend in a really good restaurant, or invited a handful of like-minded people to a “this-is-NOT-Christmas-dinner” dinner at my place.
This year, like for so many others around the world, and many more than normally: An empty house. The upside: I am going to have a whole duck (and a whole bottle of redwine …) to myself on 24 December 😊, and I can slop around in my most comfortable clothes. The duck is already in the freezer, organic, free-range, “aus der Region”, raised by a friend of a friend. I have not made up my mind whether I will cook it this way: https://www.hellemoller.eu/2012/11/17/vietnamese-roast-duck-vit-quay/, or that way: https://www.hellemoller.eu/2012/10/05/malay-braised-duck-in-aromatic-soy-sauce/.
Incidentally, I find people who now whine about not being able to spend Christmas exactly the way they normally do, pathetic and hypocritical. Not only are they completely forgetting about all those who usually have to work over the holidays, but more importantly, they are completely ignoring all those who have been displaced, as refugees, and the younger generations separated from the oldest generations, and have been unable to celebrate anything together for years, AND without knowing whether they will ever see them again. They are also forgetting how they often complain about the pressure put on them to have a picture-perfect, idyllic, whale of a time year after year, and in many cases having to spend the time with people they don’t even particularly want to spend time.
That was my penny’s worth about Christmas. I am looking forward to the peace and quiet, and just for once – I am hoping for snow 😊! It would at least temporarily change the views from my flat and make my street – not the most attractive street by any stretch – more photogenic.
My usual New Year’s Eve party, with anything between ten and around 22 (as far as I remember) people, lounging around, sipping champaign, and watching the fireworks from my 6th floor perch, is of course also not going to happen. In any case, fireworks are becoming so reviled – for many good reasons – and politically incorrect, that those days are probably over anyway. This year, Corona has been an excuse for banning the purchase of fireworks which I am sure will pave the way for a more general ban in the future. Good for the air quality and for the pets, especially the dogs.
For my part, with no fireworks to watch at all, I am not sure I can be bothered to put on a party on 31 December ever again, or even stay awake till midnight :-). I think also in future I will prefer to spend the evening reflecting on the past, present and future, and this year, I have a lot to think about and decisions to make, and some more “dead wood” (metaphorically speaking) to let go of. And persuading myself I have reasons to stay in Berlin and not move to somewhere on the North Sea.
Anaway, what I meant to post were some more photos I took with that 85mm which is causing me so much trouble. I am wondering what that lens is actually for. No matter what I do or photograph, the photos turn out soft and grainy. (But I did know that it was the completely wrong lens for the first photo :-)).
18 December
Had to go and catsit for a couple of days in Prenzlauer Berg. Brought the Canon 85 mm, 1.2 II USM with me to practise. A heave beast of a lens that I can’t get the hang of at all, which can be seen here:
If anybody sees this, and has tips on how tame that lens, they will be very welcome.
17 December
15 December
Last day of “Lockdown Light”. Tomorrow, Germany goes into a “hard lockdown”, in the first instance till 10 January. No big difference for me personally, except I have decided to avoid public transport altogether and therefore will not be going on any long walks on the outskirts of Berlin.
On the positive side, here is some evidence that the sun IS still there, somewhere:
14 December
Starting the week on a negative note, or two, rather – then it can only get better from now on :-).
- As if the stinking, noisy, waste-of-space, lethal weapons that are private cars do not do enough damage to our eco-systems, in every sense of the word, Mercedes-Benz has found a way to also send a maximum amount of black printer-toner into circulation. No less than eight full newspaper sized pages with a black background. Well done Mercedes-Benz. And congratulations to Tagesspiegel for distributing this work of genius.
2. It turns out that several of my (so-called) friends are anti-vaxxers. They are old enough to have survived epidemics such as measles and polio thanks to decisions their wiser parents once made on their behalf. So they are also hypocrites. In the case of COVID-19, it is a civic duty for those who can to be vaccinated in order to obtain the essential herd immunity so that as many people as possible can start living as normal lives as possible some time within the coming year (2021).
People with such anti-social attitudes need not contact me any more. It is simply too depressing to realise just how many people are against vaccinations for no other reason than that it is what the authorites recommend; or stupid enough to believe in conspiracy theories, and some even in that video where medical professionals from around the world claim that Covid19 does not exist and that the vaccine is designed to sterilise girls and women. The pharmaceutical companies ought to sue the whole lot of them.
13 December
Another misty morning. There have been many of those this month.
12 December
11 December
This walk from S-Bahn Station Waidmannslust along Hermsdorfer See and part of Tegeler Fließ, past Gedenkstätte ehemalige Grenzsperre (Mahnmal Stalinrasen), round tiny Waldsee and to Auenhof café and gallery (not as friendly a place as it looks, but perhaps it is hard to be particularly friendly at these times) and past Dorfkirche Alt-Reinickendorf: https://www.komoot.com/tour/293133836.
Together with the walk to and from Anhalter Bahnhof that was only about 10,5 km – not good enough, so I will have to make up for it next week :-).
I definitely want to go back to “Steg durch Tegeler Fließ”. The following is a reminder to myself of the types of wildlife one can alledgedly see there:
8 December
I thought I was going to walk around Flughafensee in Tegel. More fool me for not checking first whether that was actually possible. It is not.
What I did see of the lake was lovely, but soon you get to the bird protection area along the western shore of the lake. On the side away from the lake, this area is fenced in (although with an easy view to the area, if not to the lake).
I followed that fence, thinking that sooner or later, I would be able to get back to the lake, but soon met a considerably more aggressice fence which turned out to run along the security zone of Tegel Airport (which closed a couple of weeks ago).
I only really managed to take photos of two birds, both spotted while I was waiting for the bus. One is a cormorant in flight. I don’t know what the other one is, but it was nice of it to sit still long enough.
This is the route. Starting point is U-Bahn Station Holzhauser Straße. End point is where I took the bus (133) back to the same station. https://www.komoot.com/tour/292517821. A nice day out although it turned out a bit different from what I had expected.
6 December
It is a different scenery every morning.
I wonder if that is Mars:
5 December
For a couple of minutes this morning, the sunrise looked like this.
4 December
Tegeler See revisited with a lens better suited for cormorant photography.
Supporting my local restaurants during lockdown. A sacrifice ;-). This evening from Himmel 8 in Ritterstraße, delivered by Wolt.
3 December
One of my few concessions to the season. That is not too christmassy, even for me.
2 December
Moon setting on a day that feels frosty-misty. Or misty-frosty.
Later spotted this outside the Jewish Museum and then played a little bit with it in Lightroom. Autumn colours are my favourite and I am sorry they are almost gone. It has been a long and very lovely autumn in Berlin, though.
Now I have to start working on my dislike of the colour green so that I might end up liking spring almost as much as I like autumn.
1 December
This year has been great for tidying up and discarding “dead wood”, literally and metaphorically.
Anyway, back to the tangibles: Found this old cutting – such as it is, but my mother never bothered with petty details such as source and date – of my father (second from the left) and colleagues just before a performance at the royal theatre. It is probably not the case any longer, but back in the day, the fire brigade (also civil servants) was present behind the scenes in all non-private theatres and concert halls, (hopefully) unbeknownst to the audience. That was just about the only part of the job my father liked. As an added bonus, when a performance or concert was not sold out, he was able to sneak me in for free 
.
30 November
After three days indoors at home I needed to get out, despite the cold, grey and misty weather. I took the S-Bahn (not particularly full) to Tegel and walked to Tegel Hafen, along the lake, to “Dicke Marie” (alledgedly the oldest tree in Berlin), to some wild animal enclosures and a bit further before returning towards Schloß Tegel which turned out to be unapproachable, and home via the same station. A little less than 15 km in total.
28 November
Berlin has been a hotspot for a while now, and in today’s news came the gloomy statistic that one person dies of or with Covid19 every 100 minutes.
25 November
I know it is foggy when I can’t see the top of the buildings on Potsdamer Platz. When I finally arrange to go for a walk with a friend, we pick the foggiest day this autumn. Will we able to see each other with the distance we are supposed to keep?
At the Landwehrkanal:
24 November
Sunrise. Taken with the 35mm macro lens because there was no time to change lenses. It came out quite well. That is increasingly a favourite lens.
22 November
Guess a macro
15 November
Sunrise, and sunrise reflected, in what used to be the Postbank Building, and in some pigeons enjoying the view.
Beetroot goat cheese waffles:
Waiting to be slaughtered for a pumpkin curry 
14 November
On 13 November, they found a “Blindgänger” – an undetonated, WW2 US bomb about 550 m from my building (this still happens once or twice a year). Today, they started evacuating around 7.500 people from buildings within a radius of 300 m. The Jewish Museum (Architect Danish Libeskind) is within that radius. Surrounding streets were blocked from traffic and the area filled up with police cars and Red Cross vans. Around 18.00, the bomb had been diffused and traffic returned to normal. Or as normal as it gets during this lockdown.
Later, on my balcony:
13 November
On the way back from LPG:
9 November
A dark and misty day.
While I was – exceptionally – out most of the day, on Museum Island, at Hallesches Tor, and at a couple of other places on the way, trying to take photos for this week’s assignment for this online course: Every Place has a Story, co-presented by C/O Berlin and Strudelmedialive, and taught by Anja Hitzenberger, I also took these photos:
8 November
It’s a new world.
7 November
Still practising, and making the best of an epic fail.
5 November
A Beautiful walk round Straussee, to and from Strausberg Stadt, on the S5. Walking round a lake reduces the risk of getting lost, although with my pathetic orientation skills, you never know. Only problem: The sound of cars, more or less distantly, pretty much all the way.
4 November
In the morning I was watching CNN in disbelief that it was not exactly a landslide. After three or four hours, John King’s speed-talking and the speed at which he was able to compute incoming results, and their consequences and possible scenarios in his head was making my head swim and the good weather and fresh air called my name.
I also wanted to take these two beasts out for the first time – arrived yesterday, from me to me – just because A) like so many others, I am not spending money on most of what I used to spend money on, and I won’t be for what is probably going to end up being a period of about two years, if not forever: travel outside Germany; concert, opera, theatre and cinema tickets; and clothes and shoes – apart from a pair of really good walking shoes, and B) to make sure one birthday wish came true:
I no longer had time to go further afield so I opted for a walk along the Landwehrkanal to Urbanhafen. A bit repetitive, but plenty to practise on.
3 November, shortly after sunrise
The weather looks promising, but since I am not planning on going out, it is kind of irrelevant (for me, this is day four in the first set of Corona-imposed stay-at-home days during this second lockdown), and I actually have a very different birthday wish this year – just one – a big one – and I’m sure most of the rest of the world is joining me in keeping everything that can be crossed crossed.
Later, on my balcony:
2 November PM
Weather improved, and expecting my much-looked-forward-to photography course in Amrum in December to be cancelled any day now, it is time to find a different approach.
2 November AM
Day one of second lockdown in Germany. And fittingly, the greyest, rainiest day so far this autumn.
31 October
30 October
29 October
I went for a lovely walk in Tegeler Forst.
28 October
27 October
25 October
Trip to Wittenberg 3-5 August 2020
First, an overdose of photos from Alaris Butterfly Park, about 35 minutes walk from the center of Wittenberg.
Next door: “Abandoned Wittenberg”
On the way back: Playing with the 35 mm Macro, and later with Lightroom:
Lutherstadt Wittenberg (In progress)
Soviet War Memorial:
Stadtkirche where Luther was married:
Luther Garten
Actually three very different gardens connected by lines of a total of 500 trees, integrated in the green belt surrounding the old town which used to be the location of the city fortifications.
All-Saints Church where Luther was buried:
A few of the celebs who have graced Wittenberg with their presence for shorter or longer periods over the centuries:
The Cranachs
The Tierpark
Not particularly worth a visit, but it is part of a walk in the green belt around what used to be the ramparts, and the entrance fee is 1 euro.
Ravensbrück Concentration Camp and Downtown Fürstenberg/Havel
As I walked from the station (Fürstenberg/Havel) to the Ravensbrück Memorial, there was still some frost on the ground, so I could not resist some photos, although that did not have much to do with the theme of the day (except I could not help thinking of what probably used to fertilise the grounds ….).
The Memorial and the Camp
Needs no introduction
Please scroll down in case of a gap here.
Quoting from the memorial website:
“The company Siemens & Halske had 20 workshops constructed outside the camp’s perimeter, where prisoners were forced to work from the late summer of 1942. “
So they probably contributed to the manintenance of the grand, fenced- in, Siemens family graveyard, twice the size of my living room, in Stahnsdorf.
There is also a museum/documentation centre where you can easily spend an hour or two if you want to hear, read and see everything:
The Castle, about two km from the camp, on the outskirts of downtown Fürstenberg/Havel, no doubt with a view to the camp across the lake from the upper floors
Other impressions from Fürstenberg/Havel
