Very nice walk, and we saw many birds. Did not get any even half-way decent photos, but I am posting a small selection anyway :-).

IN PROGRESS

I feel so lucky to be living in a big city and yet be so close to such diverse nature. In many cases, half an hour on the S-Bahn (in this case from Anhalter Bahnhof) and a short walk is enough.

I picked this particular route because I have walked it several times before on the VHS birdwatching walks, and as I am still sufferering from Corona brainfog, it was just easier to not have to consult a map.

Bonus tip: right across from the S-Bahn station in Buch, there is an Italian restaurant which is also an ice-cream-café, with outdoor seating. Just sayin’.

Soon to enter week four with symptoms of that scheißvirus which I am not going to dignify by calling it by its name (fever, headaches, blocked runny nose) – milder now, and of course nothing compared to what others have gone through and are still going through, but still exhausting and frustrating – with my wonderful cleaning help volunteering to come back – badly needed 🙂 – I had to make myself scarce, so I went to Tierpark in the hope of finally seeing some of the new offspring – the Amur tiger twins and the Binturong twins. I saw one of the Amur cubs and none of the Binturongs. There were three new camel kids on the block, and, it seemed to me, one on the doorstep. And lots and lots of Meerkat babies. Did not have the energy to visit the “Himalaya” area – normally my favourite – hopefully next time.

Including a horrible cliché but I could not help myself :-).

My favourite zoo :-). I went to check out the new “Indonesian enclosure” (which looks nice but I only saw one of the alledgedly at least four different species living there), the amur tiger twins born a couple of weeks ago, and the newborn binturong twins (none of which I saw.

Main purpose bird watching. Heard a lot, saw some, did not get many photos, except of the usual swans (of which there are many at Urbanhafen). I actually find them quite boring, yet not as easy to photograph as one would think.

Nearly back home, I was treated to a lengthy concert by a robin.

IN PROGRESS

24 April:

25 April:

26 April: Leipziger Straße/Lindenstraße area, from Galerie Konrad Fischer to Berlinische Galerie

Map of the route here.

The event on InterNations here (please sign up if you want to attend).

Tentative list of galleries to visit (clustered if they are on the same address:

1. Galerie Konrad Fischer; 2. Galleries Shahin Zarinbal, Sweetwater, and Klemm’s; 5. Buchmann; 6. Max Goelitz; 7. Galeries Barbara Thumm and Carlier Gebauer; 8. Galeries Nordenhake, Soy Capitán, KOW, and Persons Projects; 9. Galerie König; and 10. Berlinische Galerie.

I frequently hear people complain that it is difficult to find a good dermatologist in Berlin. I found one before Corona and made a mental note for future reference: Dr Martina Ulrich @Dermatologie am Regierungsviertel. Unfortunately, they only take private patients. This is a reference to the – to me reprehensible – German “caste system” within health care, which I will get back to at the end of this post.

As a teenager and young person, I did stupid things in terms of sunbathing when we were not so aware of the dangers, and in any case, I have such fair skin that I should never have spent much time in the sun. But I did, and the result is more and more small moles and other signs of sun damage which I am no longer able to keep a proper eye on. Given that a full-body skin cancer screening is part of what my sickness insurance offers every two years, I decided it was time and made an appointment with Dr. Claas Ulrich in the same clinic.

I had been dreading it slightly, partly because I had heard that these screenings take forever, and also because the shock and panic from my breast cancer diagnosis in summer 2022 is still lurking right beneath the surface and whenever I think of screenings, although happy that I live in a part of the world where they are easily available, I fear the worst.

Dr Ulrich very happily and enthusiastically operates a brand-new scanner which he introduced to me as if it were his favourite child. The room it was in was not even completely set up for that kind of consultation yet, for which he profusely apologised.

The scanner sees EVERYTHING, and points out what merits a closer look by the dermatologist and a hand scanner. The whole thing took less than 45 minutes – and nothing even remotely suspicious was found.

If this is something you keep telling yourself to have done – do not hesitate. Better safe than sorry.