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 :-).

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:

I have been neglecting Mr Canon for the last week or so, but have managed some exhibition visits from my list, making the best of the me-time when Max is out frolicking with Frank and friends so that his main daily walks are taken care of:

Haus am Lützowplatz is showing works by Clemens Krauss. The mural is a work in progress and will be completely finished for the end of the exhibition. The two outdoor sculptures are not by Krauss.

On my way there, passed this sculpture of Alexander von Humboldt in Budapester Straße which I have never noticed before:

Palais Populaire is showing an exhibition of Deutsche Bank’s Artists of the Year:

After the visit there I played tourist for a little while, taking a quick look at Berlin’s newest U-Bahn station and ambling down Unter den Linden, past the library, and up Friedrichstraße to Tränenpalast, which I had never visited before. They had let in too many people for my liking so I did not stay long, but long enough to notice the large number of young people visiting and seemingly very interested in the exhibits.

And finally, the Neue Nationalgalerie, designed by Mies van der Rohe, reopened after six or seven years renovation undertaken by David Chipperfield Architects. I had organised a visit on Internations and five of us met there to either see again or see for the first time their huge permanent collection, as well as their temporary exhibition of works by Alexander Calder.

And of course I have continued the dog walking routine making sure that Max gets as much exercise as possible, as outlined in a previous post. I am so glad to have Tempelhofer Feld within walking distance:

And also the option to vary our other walks. Many dogs not living in Berlin would envy Max the possibility to walk past so many of Berlin’s main sights at such regular intervals. Whether Max fully appreciates this priviledge is not clear to me ;-). But he is getting better and better at staying in one place while I walk away from him. At least he no longer goes completely berserk.

However, one area where he is not improving is the occasional lunging and barking, especially at people whom neither he nor I had heard coming, for example joggers passing us from behind. Also skaters are a big problem.

And today I wanted to join a guided walk from Kottbusser Brücke to Engelbecken, thinking I could take Max with me. While we were waiting at the meeting point I was reminded of the way Max does not like standing still in busy places. Whether it makes him feel vulnerable or whether he feels that I am and he has to protect me, I don’t know but he will invariably lunge and bark at anybody whom in his opinion get too close to us (and in some cases he is right, for example cyclists on the pavement but unfortunately it is not allowed to bite them). I therefore gave up joining the tour and we went our own way. I have to discuss this with Astrid the trainer when we meet next week, but I have heard that Podencos simply do not like to stand still (except for sleeping, which Max actually sometimes does standing up :-)).

Nevertheless, a couple of photos from this morning’s walk: