We were already settling into a routine, Oliver liked to tank up on coffee and breakfast while I scrubbed my weary body awake and went down to start scoffing the bread rolls and dodgy looking meats. This worked out fine as there was no mad scramble to get into the bathroom like we have at home with Adam being the master of long time preperations for the day.
Weather forecast was doom and gloom again but, with high temperatures so I decided t-shirt shorts and sandles. Today was to be an outdoor jaunt taking in the Commonwealth War grave and a walk down alongside the Havel see and try to spot the Grunewald tower. By the time we were ready it was clear it would be a warm sunny day no matter what was forecast.
The cemetery was a well tended as before and seemed further away than either of us remembered as well as the garage with a well stocked fridge of local beers. This time around I took a little more time to notice how many airmen never made it home. Seems such an awful lot of effort to blow up buildings but, that was to start with the only way Britain could strike back at Germany but, I do think they could have laid off a bit when they knew we were winning on the ground.
Anyway, just past the cemetery there was a pathway leading under the roadbridge to the Havel. Nice big gothic archway with carved figurehead lead the way to the steps. The underside of the bridge was quite spectacular in its own way, lots of girders and a scenic backdrop of trees.
The plan was to walk alongside the lake until we came to the tower and then catch a bus back to Heerstrasse, well that was the plan. The lake was quite pleasant and bigger than any I had seen previously around Berlin, it was also very popular with the boating crowd. There were moorings and piers all over the bank we were on and some sort of large hotel on the far bank. I expect it is very busy at the weekends. It was no surprise to find out later that this lake had been used by Britain to land Sunderlands during the Berlin airlift.
We should have been getting close to the tower by now having been walking for nearly an hour but, could see no sign of it. We later found out we had stuck to the shoreline when we should have broke off and followed the round inland but, no matter we had more adventures along the lakeside and it was a really good day for walking. I saw a beach that looked a good spot to laze about and went to get a photo, thought it might impress Annette who likes boats and waterways.
As I walked down to the waters edge I notice yet another nude sunworshiper who closed her legs when she spotted the camera and went back to her book. I quickly walked around to the other side and let her be, taking instead a picture of the hotel on the far shore. I expect it is some big yaughting clubhouse or other, maybe we will find out one day.
A little further on I spotted a small wild pig and called to Oliver to see for himself, as those who have followed my history of trips to Berlin will remember first time out I saw a huge wild boar close to the academy in Grunewald and nobody would believe me. Anyway, there were three that I could see now and Oliver said to try and get a picture. As I approached they all ran off but, I then saw a larger pig lying down which I took to be the mother, and crept towards it. I hadn’t gone far before it jumped up and faced me with it’s big pointy teeth and my cowardly instincts kicked in and I backed off. I’d just got the picture when it started trotting towards me and that was enough I turned and ran back to join Oliver, jumping over a barrier. As soon as I stopped I reslised that the pig could have run straight underneath and got me if it had wanted to, I expect it was happy to be left alone as I was.
So we continued our jaunt along the lake enjoying the good weather and before we knew it we were at Nikolassee and had just about walked the whole length of the lake. To be honest we were feeling a bit done in by now as all we had to drink was WATER!!! You can get an idea of how far we had walked if you glance at s7/s75 lines from Heerstrasse to Nikolassee, nearly at Wannsee.
There was only one thing for it, beer and currywurst, Oliver survived on pommes not being one for meat. A couple of beers later and we pay our homage to Gleis 17 which now is even more overgrown and neglected but, clearly not forgotten as there are now many candles lining the platform and stacks of small stones denoting the visits from grieving relatives. This place never ceases to move me and to neglect the tracks either side of it and the underground tunnel seems to lack respect. It is bad enough that they are letting nature bury the tracks with trees and bushes but, it now seems to be the policy to keep everyone away from the site. I may be wrong perhaps they have altered the route of the trains out of respect but, that would not explain the home grown forrest between the platforms.
From there we headed off to Alexanderplatz where oliver had found they were holding some celebrations, which it turned out marked the 20th anniversary of the unification, Alexanderplatz being one of the first places in Berlin where the wall was breached. It was a mixed affair on the far side there was a large board wall of display materials from the time of the wall and in the main square there was amongst the usual beer tents and Imbis stands a variety of live street performances, ranging from rap music, acrobats and jugglers to a brass band. All good stuff and better yet we found if we walked through the alleyway the price of the beer dropped from €4 for 330ml to €2 for half a litre.
Refreshed and all entertained out we set off back to buy survival rations for the night; beer and snacks. Oliver likes his fish snacks and there are plenty of them available in German supermarkets and I found a rice pudding that would provide a nice supper along with a cup of mint tea before starting the main course of larger. Only trouble was I struggled with the microwave, could not get it to work. Turns out I had put the wrong plug in because all the wires were twisted and I could not be bothered to untangle them, but Oliver saved the day and I had a nice hot pudding.
It had been quite a long day all in all and I was not too surprised to find I had black feet. My sandles had moulded to my soles and no amount of scrubbing would get the stains off so I decided I would have to go back to shoes for a day or two.