It’s been a very warm and picturesque October. Here are some photos from yesterday’s bicycle ride in southern Brandenburg. All are straight from the DSLR camera, no color correction.… Read the rest

Rügen is Germany’s largest island, off the northern Baltic Sea coast. It’s a major tourist destination, but it was late in the year and not during school holidays, so it was not crowded. We stayed in the seaside village of Binz for a few days, and visited various other towns by bicycle. Straw-thatched houses are…

Another sunny weekend in the winter 20/21, in Little Venice. That’s a neighborhood in the east of Berlin, just east of Berlin’s largest lake, the Müggelsee. It’s called Little Venice because it’s built on a system of canals, all houses have direct water access. It was unusually cold this year so most rivers and lakes…

The winter in Berlin was unusually snowy. We normally don’t get much snow, or when we do, it melts quickly. This year winter looked exactly like winter is supposed to look like. The photos are from Grunewald forest, one of largest and forested parks in Berlin, between the Havel lakes and the western suburbs. At…

Spreewald (river Spree forest) is a large region in Brandenburg, southeast of Berlin. The river Spree widens into a maze of small rivers and canals in the forest. There are a few villages where small hand-rowed boats run tours, or kayaks are rented. It’s incredibly scenic and calm. Most families here have lived in the…

Saale and Unstrut are rivers in Sachsen-Anhalt, a few hours southwest from Berlin. The main city is Naumburg, best known for its Unesco-listed cathedral. From here, the countryside with its vineyards and numerous castles can be explored by bicycle. We even brought a tent to extend our range.… Read the rest

Southwest from Berlin, a short train ride away, is the town of Beelitz with its Heilstätten hospital. It’s like a lost place, except that they have built a skywalk over it and do tours. Trees now grow in buildings and on partially collapsed roofs, and much of the facilities are open to the public. In…