Riding and Wandering

 Wed & Thurs Sept  27 & 28

Yesterday, Katharina had a day off work, so we could just hang out as two adults. We went out to breakfast, went to the Wall Museum, wandered about in a neighbourhood not our own (a rarity!), before picking the kids up.

Katharina and the Wall

It’s summer-time hot in Berlin right now, a contrast with the wind and rain happening back home. We took the kids for ice cream, then up to a little platz that has a water feature where children like to play. There is a café with tables right beside the fountain, so we were able to continue to pamper ourselves as adults, having a de-alcoholized beer (which of course was delicious, unlike any of the Canadian ones I’ve tried) while the kids played.

Or these girls, either!

It doesn't take much to make these girls happy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, it was Ezra’s turn to take a day off, and of course we went riding. Ezra is a maniac cyclist, easily clocking 100 km in a breezy afternoon. We didn’t go that far. I was using a bike borrowed from Katharina’s generous mom, a sweet old thing (the bike, not the mom!) (though the mom, Agnes, is very sweet, too) that only has three gears — a bike meant for short jaunts to buy groceries, say, not for any kind of distance. So, to my dismay, I started pooping out at just under 20 km. This is not encouraging for someone about the embark on a cycling trip to Portugal, but I’m telling myself it’s okay — I’ll have an ebike, I’ll work up to the longer days, this bike is no indication. I hope I’m right.

Anyhow, I loved the ride, and Mr Master Cyclist was very patient — a test for both of us, I suppose. And I’m posting our ride as a Relive video, first time I’ve tried publishing the videos made by recording rides on Ride with GPS, which then communicates with Relive. Here goes!

Photos:
- Ezra at his workplace, a refugee home where he is a social worker (Do-Gooder Cycling Maniac!)
- Ezra in Grunewald
- Ignore the old woman and check out the tower visible in the background, an American spy tower built on Teufelsberg, an artificial hill made post WWII of rubble from the bombed city. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelsberg
- Sand dune in the middle of the forest, where the kids love to play. Turns out this dune is an artifact of WWII, where a former ammunitions depot was covered in sand in an attempt to reintegrate the area into the forest landscape.
- On the River Spree, where we would have liked to sit on the dock for lunch, but no one’s allowed on the dock (!)
- Where we actually had lunch

Relive says I hit 44 km/h on the home stretch — that’s not even possible, although we were getting close to the S-Bahn station where we would load our bikes on the train and ride out the way home. So I was motivated!