This and that about life in Berlin, and with Max, while people act as if the pandemic has gone away, which results in rising numbers again
I set off in search of a photo to submit to 52Frames (as mentioned in the previous post, the theme this week is wabi-sabi) and ended up taking far too many photos – what else is new – including the last of the autumn colours, illustrations of what a city of contrasts Berlin is – certainly as seen on and from Stralau Peninsula, and much more. And one or two candidates for the wabi-sabi thing.
Mainly to take a photo to submit to 52Frames, where this week’s theme is Wabi Sabi but took some other photos too. I would only consider two or three of today’s results for submission and will continue that quest in Stralau Peninsula later in the week.
I had a dental appointment in Steglitz so had booked Max into Belloberlini for most of the day in order to profit from being in that area one way or another.
Leaving Max there was without the drama he staged last time – a great relief.
I went to the dentist and then to Brücke Museum and Kunsthaus Dahlem. Walking from the dentist to the museum through an area I had not seen before, I came across Restaurant Eierschale which was not only almost completely empty, but had mussles in white wine sauce on the menu – very yummy – a great lunch.
Back at Belloberlini, Max staged a pretty ugly scene when he saw me again, he was all over the place and barking so fastening the leash was a struggle, and the walk home was jittery although he must have been fairly tired. It took some vigorous gnawing on his hardest chewtoy – a sure sign of stress – and a good rub-down for him to wind down, and after I told him five times to go to his pillow, he finally settled down and fell into what seems like a deep sleep there.
Rome certainly was not built in one day when it comes to adopting a seven-year-old Podenco mix …..
Perhaps I should book him into Belloberlini more often so that he might get used to it.
I am immensely pleased and relieved at the way Max now handles new situations compared to earlier.
In the summer, not long after he had moved in, I had two friends over for an evening meal on the balcony, and Max was, quite frankly, a royal pain in the …. He clearly had no idea what to do, went virtually galloping in and out of the rooms when they arrived, and proceeded to – barking loudly – demand my constant attention throughout the evening. He was distressed and having an even more miserable time than us humans 😊.
Yesterday, I had again invited two – other – friends over to watch a film, followed by a meal. Max was much calmer both when the doorbell rang and when they appeared and throughout the afternoon and evening. He initially – on my command – spent time on his pillow, calmly observing us while we had some cake. After that, he did get a lot of loving attention from one of the guests who loves dogs, but he was completely calm, quiet and relaxed and obviously hugely enjoying himself, and he did not disrupt the watching of the film. While we had the evening meal, he again dozed off on his pillow.
After the guests had left, he behaved as he usually does when it has just been the two of us throughout the evening and did not come across as extra needy of my attention.
It has to be said that all morning, Max had had a good long run, off-leash, with Frank and friends , which obviously contributed to his equilibrium. I am grateful that that help is available to me.
I am also very grateful to our current trainer, Astrid Ribois-Verlinde, for making me persevere and not give up on Max when I was at an all-time low.
I find it so interesting how, 4,5 months after I adopted him, he is still changing for the better day by day – seemingly having a much better time, getting more and more relaxed around new people, and ultimately allowing me to spend some equally relaxed time with friends while being pleased with and proud of Max and the progress he has made and is still making.
If he is not careful, other people will end up regarding him as a completely normal dog 😊.
Two shorter walks for Max today, to replace his one main walk, since I wanted to squeeze in this guided tour of one of the cemeteries at Südstern, and dogs are not allowed inside cemeteries (although, just like most other such laws in Berlin, this is mostly ignored).
Exceptionally for a Saturday, Max went out with Frank yesterday and had a good run-around, so I don’t feel too bad about limiting his amount and quality of exercise somewhat today. And I will take him to one of the dog parks at Tempelhof tomorrow where he always blows off a lot of steam.
Therefore, our morning walk went along Märkisches Ufer and across Köllnischer Park, recently reopened after a lengthy renovation (read more about the park here).
The guided tour at noon was informative, and I think those tours are slightly different each time, so one would probably learn something new even if attending several times. The cemeteries here are diverse in more ways than one, and quite different from the ones in Denmark. Also, the weather was lovely today and there is still a lot left of the autumn vibes.
With Frank of Instinkt&Intuition taking great care of Max’s main walk today, and the deadline for submitting a photo to 52frames.com looming (this week’s theme is “walls”, with extra credit for “arches”) I decided to brave what the Berlin weather service called “a storm” (a sorry excuse for one, if you ask me) and take Mr Canon for a walk. This was the only day this week available to focus on photography so I was not going to let a minor detail like “Sturmtief Ignatz” throw my plans down the toilet.
I have no idea which of the following I will submit to 52frames, if any at all this week. I am also not sure if any of them qualify as “arches”:
I took these for the colours:
And these while sheltering from a heavy rainfall:
Some reflections:
Some of the many leaves being blown off the trees in the strong wind:
And finally, another example of an epic fail which I actually quite like. I don’t recall even taking it, but I do recall a couple of incidents where I was nearly blown into the river :-).
This walk, entitled U 7 “Endstation”, Rundwanderung am Stadtrand, was organised by Joachim Wenzel and approximately 12 km – actually a little more, I think – here is the link to the route on mapmywalk. (I forgot to start recording right at the beginning, and also twice after having paused recording, so the route probably looks a bit weird, but it went from and back to U-Bahnhof Rudow). Back in Rudow, we finished with a meal in Restaurant Zum Alten Krug. Highly recommended, good food and very friendly staff.
I had left Max (my dog, for those who don’t know 🙂 to have fun with Frank and some canine friends. Much as I had hoped to bring Max along on the walks with Berliner Wanderclub, it is too stressful for him, and therefore for me and everybody else. He wants to be in front all the time, but also make sure that everybody is still there, and on the leash, that does not work. If he could run off-leash all the time, it would probably be lots of fun for him to keep running around in those loops, but that is unfortunately not allowed in most places in Berlin and surroundings. I don’t know if those instincts are so deep within him that it would not be worth the effort to try to teach him to walk with a largish group of people. I will talk to Frank, and also to Astrid, our current trainer, about that. But for now, Frank’s Hundeausführservice is a wonderful alternative, which also lets me take Mr Canon along instead.
PS: I have to say this: Whenever I mention Berliner Wanderclub to friends and acquaintances of all ages, they later make the comment that nobody is going to take an organisation seriously that does not have a proper, navigable and up-to-date website, or a Facebook page, preferably both. No organisation will attract new members as long as it relies on word-of-mouth, scraps of paper, and phone calls in order to communicate for example changes in the programme and cancellation of walks. I tend to agree.
Went to try out this – for us – new dog park. Very nice, a little bigger than the ones at Tempelhof, I think, with many trees and – a rarity – fresh water.
I can see us using this one when it is too cold to go to Tempelhof. It is just a few steps from S Betriebsbhf Rummelsburg, so most often we will have to take the S-Bahn from either Sbhf Jannowitzbrücke (a little more than 2 km away) or Ostbahnhof (between 3,5 and 4 km away, depending on the route), so also good for days when I am feeling lazy.
A bit advantage of walking to and from Ostbahnhof is the opportunity to walk across Schillingbrücke with the nice view in both directions.
Here is a short video of Max exploring it for the first time.
And two photos taken on the way back from Ostbahnhof:
