This Goshawk (DE Habicht) makes a brief appearance most mornings in a tall tree at the back of my courtyard, right next to Berlinische Galerie. He keeps a watchful eye on the ground for a while, then swoops down, and flies away. I have not yet been able to see if he actually finds some food here, but there are plenty of mice and small rats in the area, so I wish he would bring his friends along to help keeping them at bay.

It is almost worth investing in a longer lense just for that, but for now, here are two not very good photos:

A film on either Prime or Netflix is agreed on. I cook. We watch the film in the late afternoon and then we eat.

This might be the first dessert. Despite the icecream component this, to me, is definitely a winter dessert. Now I just need to find a main course which is not too heavy or rich.

Here is the overview on Wikipedia.

I have never attended any events commemorating or celebrating any of those dates, not even the fall of the wall, thinking it was not my party to hijack, although it was of course of momentous importance far beyond Germany and even Europe.

I also know that many Germans see this latest 9 November event as a day of mourning since it paved the way to the reunification on 3 October 1990 (obviously not celebrated today, but the association is easy to see). Not that they supported the GDR regime, but because they had other dreams, hopes and visions for their country than being annexed by FRG in a process which they feel was bulldozed into being.

But back to today – the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. One of the ways it is being commemorated is with a path of posters and banners, old as well as new, marking the trajectory of the wall from just north of the central station to a little beyond Checkpoint Charlie.

With the promise of a sunny day, I posted a photowalk along that display in the photography group of InterNations.org, “Let’s celebrate freedom while we still have it”, starting at 14.00 hrs at the start of the route just north of the central station. A map of the route can be found here.

I was moved by the number of posters, and the number of people out to walk the route and celebrate. My impressions:

Video I

Video II

The home stretch after an overwhelming experience, on what was actually a bitterly cold day, survived thanks to good company, a cup of hot chocolate along the way, and the thought of a curry in my favourite restaurant, Sadhu on the corner of Ritterstraße and Lindenstraße, at the end:

Video III

And finally, the setting moon spotted towards the end of the walk:

I read about one of the big pumpkin farms in Brandenburg that they exhibit about 100.000 pumpkins, 500 different kinds, some weighing only 35 grams. Some of them are for sale, and dishes with pumpkin can be sampled in a bakery, a café, and a restaurant, where goose raised on the premises can also be sampled. And with joyrides for children.

Spargelhof Klaistow, Glindower Straße 28, 14547, in case anyone wants to visit – this is the last weekend, but I am sure they will be back next year, and are in any case doing something similar during asparagus season. Easily reached on RE1 and bus 641 (but keep an eye on the schedule – the bus only runs hourly).

I thought that might add some welcome splashes of colour on a grey and misty day, and also provide some images I would need for a photography course, illustrating the abundance in this part of the world in contrast to the abject deprivation elsewhere, so off I went to Beelitz.

I was prepared for mountains of pumpkin – not for the way they had been built into tasteless figures and the sight of all that food simply rotting.

17 November Jewish Cemetery Weißensee with Umweltladen Mitte

14 November Berlin Zoo between medical appointment and cinema?

10 November Birdwatching Tempelhofer Feld See separate post

9 November “Posterwall” See separate post

2 November Birdwatching in English with VHS in Hasenheide and on Tempelhofer Feld

Lovely walk in great company and the best November-in-Berlin weather possible. Saw many different birds – did not get a chance to photograph so many.

Bonus tip: We finished with a coffee in the very nice cafe in “Spore Initiative” – interesting place and architecture, close to U Bhf Leinestraße.

City walk with Eckehard Heiber, Empor Berlin, 3 November

Interesting as always, although a very large group in which there are always people who can’t keep their mouths shut while Eckehard is talking. Anyway, the weather was just as brilliant as the day before, if a little colder.

Here just a couple of unedited photos from my smartphone.

Afterwards, I went to Humboldt Forum to see the exhibition on Palast der Republic, which I found interesting.

Then an early dinner in vegan Vietnamese restaurant Sora on the way to quiznight “Let’s get Quizical” in Alte Turnhalle, where the team I was on came in fourth out of 22 teams. All in all, a perfect 72nd birthday :-).

IN PROGRESS

First, a multiple-panel I made for a photography course where the assignment was fall foliage, before that had really started appearing in Berlin:

5 October Moorlinse with VHS

My second (or third?) participation in this VHS birdwatching walk, led by Rob Crouch. I have also walked that route by myself several times, and once with a friend, since I now know it well, and even with my pathetic orientation skills do not have to bother with maps and am not likely to get completely lost. It is a very diverse walk with lakes, fields and forest.

There were not that many birds in Moorlinse when we got there mid-morning, but one great white egret I had not seen there before.

A bit later, while walking further on, we saw many geese arriving and descending towards Moorlinse, reportedly for a rest before continuing their travel south.

We also saw two herons circling (or were they actually storks?):

By the way, there were also some large caterpillars on the paths. Thank you to Agata for styling one of them for a photoshoot :-).

Stopped for a break at Karpfenteiche before proceeding towards Bogensee:

At Bogensee, I was lucky to get some photos of a great white egret. For a moment, I thought it might be the one from Moorlinse escaping from the onslaught of geese, but after the walk, I went back to Moorlinse and saw that egret still there, seemingly unperturbed by the geese.

Below are the kinds of photos I also find interesting, but I have included some pretty landscape photos above since those are what most people seem to like. (“Pretty” is not my kind of thing. I find most of it quite puke-worthy):

Somewhere along the way, we also saw a cow and a buzzard (the latter actually too far away to be photographed with my slightly limited equipment.

And finally, the view over Moorlinse after the walk:

And this youtube video, and this one.

7 October Tierpark Berlin

It may be a bit of a stretch to categorise a visit to Tierpark Berlin as a nature walk, but there are many different trees, bushes, grasses – in addition to the zoo animals. I went there in search of some ICM photos for the Blende2 assignment. Those will be posted in a separate post. Here are some of the more “normal” photos I took:

9 October NABU Spandau Bezirksgruppe – Vogel(stimmen)wanderung am Neunten, at Großer Spektesee

A super enjoyable walk in the most perfect weather.

The sunrise as seen from my balcony on 26 October

A walk along Landwehrkanal to Urbanhafen just after sunrise on 27 October

And a photo walk ably organised by DJ in InterNations Photography Group – a very nice event, starting with a cup of good coffee in Mehringdamm, followed by a walk around and to the top of Viktoriapark, and ending with a tasty meal in Mama Rosas Taqueria in Mehringdamm.

Photographed two white flowers on the way there.

One on 28 September with VHS Pankow in Freizeitpark Marienfelde, and one on 29 September, found in Umweltkalender, in Britzer Garten.

I am finding it a little bit strange that they would organise the one tomorrow on the day of the – fiftieth! – Berlin Marathon. For anyone living inside the route, not to mention those who live north of Berlin and somehow have to make it across the city, it might be difficult if not impossible to get there, since many bus routes are suspended and many streets blocked off. (And no, I am not complaining about the marathon like so many others – it is a feast, if you ask me, and it is one weekend each year, so either just stay at home or go out and enjoy the spectacle and stop whining).

Anyway, both walks were very pleasant. In Marienfelde, we saw a heron and a largeish flock of long-tailed tits, as well as a buzzard and a kestrel.

In Britzer Garten, we saw five jays at the same time in one tree, several types of woodpecker and tit, and a sparrowhawk. On my way out I saw a bird of prey being escorted to the nearest exit by two crows.

The concert took place in Johannische Kirche Blankensee. Philharmonische Orchester des Staatstheaters Cottbus, led by GMD Alexander Merzyn, played Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony. Lovely concert although I am now not sure why at some point Bruckner was one of my all-time favourites.

Before the concert, there was time for a walk in the area.