Bike day trip: Müggelsee

I've been bitten by the travel bug again lately, and I've also had a strong urge to do more things outdoors. I've been cycling around the city a lot for transportation, and I thought it might be nice to do a day trip by bike. I haven't biked "just for fun" since I lived back home, and by "back home" I -really- mean it, because the last time was when I lived with my parents in Campbell River. Growing up, I used to go on rides all the time through the forest and through town, but in my adult life I've only used bicycles for transportation. Today changed that!

I researched online where I should go and how I should get there, and I decided that since I've never been to Müggelsee, it would be a good place to start. I took Europaweg R1 to the East, which I found to be a really great route. It's also possible to get there any number of other ways, but I thought I'd experiment with using the "official" bike routes, as I have ideas of maybe doing a longer trip later!

I started in Alexanderplatz, not really because it's better in any way, but the route runs through it and I live a 5 minute cycle away.


The cycle took me through Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg to Treptow, and I went through Treptower Park. I love this park, and I hardly ever go there because it's not in my neighbourhood. It's right on the Spree, and there are a lot of great cafes, beer gardens and boat shacks all along the river. One of the beer gardens has a stage, and there was a live jazz band playing. If I had been there to lounge around, I would have loved to have a beer and listen!

(Swan watching)




(I somehow find tagging an old, large tree like this to be really disrespectful, like tagging a church or a monument or something...I thought this tree was great though because you don't see so many large ones like this in Berlin)


(There are a few of these along the cycle route....I never noticed them before until I was looking for the cycling stuff!)


(A view of the abandoned amusement park, Spreepark. I find it really haunting, and it just looks like it was just left to totally rot. I have a love of things like this that are just left behind. It's like imagining what life would be like after an apocalypse).



I had to take a water taxi to continue my route. They are run by the BVG, but after almost 6 years living here, I had NO idea they ran water taxis at all! You learn new things when you cycle!



After getting lost for a bit, I cycled over through Alt-Koepenick, another place I'd never been before. I've been to and through Koepenick before but never this part. It's quite picturesque, and they were having some sort of festival going on. I walked through it a bit.


(Rathaus Koepenick)


(Not sure who this is....we have guesses that it's Hauptmann von Koepenick?)




(This part of Koepenick is so picturesque, but then you ride on and have these reminders that you're still in the heart of East Berlin).

Eventually I did reach the lake, and I crossed over the river just before it to poke around Friedrichshagen for a bit. It's an interesting district that used to be a haven for artists, and now it's still lovely. There are still a few run down buildings but a lot of really pretty ones as well. If I weren't so keen on living in the city center and wanted to live somewhere a bit quieter, it would be great! Afterward, I cycled around the lake and through the forest to Müggelheim, which sounded like an actual place but really wasn't.


(Brewery in Friedrichshagen)




(finally at the lake)


(more Friedrichshagen)


(I've always wondered, why are there Irish Pubs EVERYWHERE? Even in a minor suburb in Germany??)








(Attempting Americana in Mueggelheim)


(Told you, nothing here)



After a bit of riding around, I decided it was time to head home, as I wanted to get back in time to call my dad and say happy father's day. I passed a fruit stand, which is another thing I remember growing up in Canada. We used to drive along the old highway and sometimes in the summer, there would be fruit for sale from the Okanagan. At that point, it started to pour down rain (LITERALLY...I felt like someone was pouring buckets of water over my head!) It was a good time to pick up some fruit and wait until the rain got a lot less violent. It never stopped totally though and I was pretty wet when I got home, and happy to wear sweat pants and slippers!


(fruit!)


(After 50 km of cycling, this building in Friedrichshain made me dizzy!)


(Warm!)

Right now I want to....

....fly to Barcelona


message someone


see the ocean


run (it's 1 am)


eat a banana split


laugh until I cry

The Last Couple of Weeks

I've been quite busy. Too busy to blog! So bear with me, this is going to be a very long entry. But there will be some pictures! I'll go through day by day.

Monday, June 14th
I woke up after slipping into a sort-of jet lag coma on Sunday night. I got up fairly early, at 6-ish. I lounged around for a while until Jess woke up, then we had breakfast and went through a walk through James Bay. It's a beautiful neighbourhood, and it's cleaned up a lot since I was last there (years ago, before I left Canada.) I met Corrine for coffee at Ogden's Point Cafe, which is a lovely cafe right on the point, overlooking the breakwater. Afterward, we walked all the way down the Breakwater. It was quite windy; I felt like I was going to blow away! Great views though. In the evening I ate sockeye salmon with Jess, then Jen came over to watch DVDs (Center Stage and Down With Love.)

Tuesday June 15
We got up early-ish to go wine tasting. Only two wineries were open, but both were well worth it. Church & State was a bit more "commercial" but they had a couple of wines I really loved (I bought a bottle of the rose, which surprised me because it was quite dry.) Muse was eclectic and there were some interesting notes in the wine (the bottle of Pinot Gris had distinctive apple notes.) You don't think of wine when you think of BC, especially coastal BC, but Island wines are actually wonderful. They're very artful. I think they have to put the effort in because they don't have the large productions and reputations that more well-known wine regions have. People who open wineries over here are also extremely dedicated to wine-making and know a LOT about wine!
We went to Red Barn (a farm market) and got some fruits and veggies for dinner, and Jess hosted Jen and Ryan, and Eric (as well as myself of course) for appys. We chatted, had wine, and some great food!

Wednesday, June 16
I spent the day with Matt, which was really awesome. I bussed over to his place, and then we went over to Sooke Potholes, which is a place in the Sooke River that has these deep spots and is great for swimming (http://www.sookepotholes.com/) We didn't swim, because even though it was warm weather, it wasn't super hot, and the water was still freezing cold. Also, I forgot my bathing suit in Berlin :( We had some junk food, and basically hung around in the sun. Then we went back into Victoria and cooked me an awesome steak dinner and we played Trivial Pursuit, which is the awesomest game ever.

Thursday, June 17
Headed over to French Beach. On the way, we stopped at the Meadery, which was interesting because I found the mead a lot different than the mead I've had in Europe. It was a lot drier. It was really cloudy and windy, but we had a nice picnic and goofed around on the beach and playground (there were no children there.) That evening, we ate at Ferris's Oyster Bar, which has amazing food and drinks. If you're there, the downstairs is more of a pub style, but if you go to the second door (on the outside), which leads up some stairs, that's where the actual oyster bar is, and the space is AMAZING. I really can't describe it because in words it doesn't sound all that cool, but I'll upload my pictures later.

Friday, June 18
We had a fun day of shopping, then went back to town for some gelato and salt water taffy (my HUGE guilty pleasure. I love it so much!) That evening, I went to my aunt and uncles house for dinner, which was really nice because I haven't seen them in years. My cousins, Louis and Colin, are SO much older than I remembered! I couldn't believe it...nothing will make you feel old than family members you remember as children suddenly popping up as teens.
After dinner, I met up with Jen, Ryan, Jess and Mandy at the Sticky Wicket, and we had some nachos, which I barely touched, but BC has this stupid law that EVERYONE in the food area of a pub MUST be eating, or else you can't sit there, and it was too crowded in the rest of the bar to sit there, and Jen and Ryan really did want food. Afterwards, we were going to go out dancing, but everywhere in the area was SO incredibly crowded, and waiting in the long lines really killed the mood, so we just went home.

To be continued....

Canadiana

I'm in Victoria!

My trip was long. It was a 15 hour plane ride all together, with two stopovers. The guy sitting next to me on my flight from Amsterdam to Calgary was hot, and I found it really distracting. At moments, I found myself talking way too much, which is what I tend to do when I'm really nervous. It was also really unfortunate to be sitting next to a hot guy on a plane, because I always feel really gross when I fly. Something about the recycled air for several hours. In Calgary I thought they lost my luggage and almost missed my next plane as I tried to find it. Turns out they put it in oversized luggage, but never told me. Luckily the long security line moved quickly, because I -just- caught the plane to Vancouver. I was really tired by the time I got to Vancouver, and I fell asleep waiting for the ferry to Victoria. I also slept through half the ferry ride, which is too bad because that route is really beautiful. I caught some of it though! The girls were waiting for me at the terminal in Victoria, but I was pretty beat by then!

The biggest thing that hit me right away about Canada is how incredibly friendly people are! Everyone says how nice Canadians are and it's really true. I didn't notice it when I lived here, but after living in Berlin, which has that big city brutality (like most other big cities), it's really obvious and welcome. A guy offered to help me with my bags when I was getting off the bus, and when you bump into people, they apologize, even if it's totally your fault. On the downside, Victoria is INCREDIBLY expensive. Like one of the most expensive places I've ever been actually.

I've had a great time so far though! Saturday I shopped a bit with Jen, then she made this awesome basalmic barbeque chicken, and we went to the Mint for drinks. Sunday I was pretty dead, but we went to see Jen dance and I met Matt for dinner. I passed out at 8 pm though. I woke up this morning just before 7 am, and went for a walk around James Bay, then met Corrine at Ogden's Point, which I haven't really been to since I was a kid, and it was really cool (but INSANELY windy...I felt like I was going to blow away!) The cafe there was nice too...it overlooks the water.

Pics to follow!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

I'm going to Athens Tomorrow! Can't wait! I'm mostly packed and I got all my other stuff done so I'm pretty much set to go. Now all I have to do is get to sleep (easier said than done.) Luckily, my flight isn't too early tomorrow.

The cucumber and tomato seeds that I planted last week are sprouting already. Hopefully they do ok while I'm gone. At this stage when they're in the greenhouse flats I have they don't need so much water luckily.

I want an adventure!

It started 2 days ago, on Sunday.

Shortly after I posted my last entry, I met my friend Kathie for a late sushi lunch. We got to talking and she told me about how she was looking at last minute travel deals to beat the ugly weather here, but how she didn’t find anything for when she had the time to go. It got me thinking that I’d love to do something like that. I always hold myself back because I want to save money, but something inside me told me to go anyway. When I got home, I started looking at various flights and hotels all over Europe and came up with a few promising options. After more research, Athens seemed like the best deal in early March. I was still hesitant, but I thought about it for a while and decided to take the plunge and go.
I think part of the reason I’ve been so up and down with Berlin lately is tied to my previous post. I don’t leave, and I don’t take advantage of what the city has to offer. Further thought brought me to the conclusion that I am not actually living my life. I socialize with friends, so at least that’s something, but I’m not doing things that I want to very often. I’m not having the kinds of experiences that I want to be having. Basically, I’m missing out. I always have a little voice inside my head that tells me ‘when I’m in a relationship it would be fun to do this stuff’ or ‘when I have a career and have more income I’ll go there’ and it just seems to me now that I’m waiting to live my life instead of actually living it. I don’t need to wait until my life is perfect to live it…I can do it now. It doesn’t have to cost me a lot and I can still save money for the future. I think it’s about balance. I’ve also had a creeping fear inside me for the past couple of years that I think holds me back from living my life. I find myself spending a lot of money on books and DVDs, and it’s like I live my life vicariously through fictional characters. This stops NOW. I have enough books to read for probably 2 years. I don’t need more books. I already subscribe to a DVD service and have lots of my own so I don’t need to buy DVDs either. Instead, I can spend that money DOING things. Great idea, huh?

So I did it. I booked a ticket to Athens. I leave on March 9 and return on the 15th. I’m not even a little nervous. In fact, I can’t wait!

Vancouver 2010, homesickness and wanderlust

The Vancouver 2010 Olympics opened on Friday, and I have to admit, watching the opening ceremonies has been making me pretty homesick. I wish I could be there amongst all the excitement. I’d wanted to visit, but the tickets cost a lot and since I’m mid-school right now it’s not a very convenient time to go.
All this is also bringing up some other stuff though that I have thought about for a couple of months now, but haven’t really told anyone. I’m not even really sure how I feel myself about this, but I sometimes wonder if I really want to stay in Berlin long-term. I used to want to make this place my home, and in a way I really feel like it’s become that kind of place for me, but there are some other things that also make me feel otherwise. For one, no matter what I do, I always feel like I’m a foreigner, and that I’m seen as a foreigner. I hold a German passport, but I’m still a foreigner because I have an accent. This really irritates me. I come from Canada, where it’s a mix of people and culture and no matter where you come from, you can fit in. Differences are celebrated and welcomed. I have great friends here, including Germans, but it’s not the same somehow. Maybe if I were born somewhere else and lived in Canada, I’d feel the same…who knows.
Also, I’m not doing any of the things that I wanted to when I came here. All the reasons that I say I love it here, I never do. It’s easy to get around Europe, but I never travel…when I say this to friends from back home, they go on and on and on about how cheap it is to travel here, but NOTHING is cheap when you don’t have an income. My standard of living (and therefore cost) has also gone up a lot since I moved here. I own an apartment, which has all sorts of associated costs. That’s a really big one. I’ve always wanted to have my own place but I also always wanted to travel and I didn’t necessarily want to do it when I was older and tied down with a career. I moved here because I wanted to travel while I was young, but instead of going on one big backpacking trip (I’ve never been attracted to the backpacking thing), I could go on weekends and see Europe. I’ve seen a few things, but I have still only been to a handful of European countries. Friends travel all the time and I really feel like I’m missing out, especially when I hear “You HAVEN’T been to Italy/London/Spain/Etc????” No, I haven’t. I really want to though. I also hardly ever take advantage of what Berlin has to offer. There are so many amazing things to do here but I only manage to do any of them every few months. This is a BIG reason that I came here and why I want to stay here, but I haven’t gotten into it enough either. Maybe I have to push myself and just go. Or maybe I don’t even value the things that I thought I did as much as I thought. I actually have no idea.
Part of me wonders if I should move back to Canada. Looking back though, when I’ve been back I haven’t wanted to stay and I’ve always been happy to come back here. Maybe my trip in June will make me appreciate Berlin more. Maybe if I left more in general, I’d appreciate Berlin more. I think it’s hard to appreciate where you are if you never see anything else.
In a way, I don’t want to move. All my stuff is here, and that sounds like a silly reason to stay, but I’m comfortable and I’ve never really had that before. Moving things and having house sales and renting out my apartment just feels so daunting and overwhelming that I don’t really want to do it unless I had a really, really good job offer or found someone I couldn’t live without. But does that mean I shouldn’t consider career options outside of Berlin? Should I focus on continuing to build my life here or should I just keep my options open and see if it takes me somewhere else after all? Maybe I’m just having jitters because I’ve been here almost 5 years and that’s a good period of time to start reassessing life.