A Day at the Beach

 June 14, 2025 — Satuday

Hot today, up to 30°

On my Berlin Wishlist, which, I must emphasize, was not really a wishlist, one idea was to go kayaking in Klein-Venedig. When I saw this in that off-beat Berlin article, I remembered seeing pictures of Ezra and Katharina doing that, years ago, pre-kids. They were quite enthusiastic about the idea, and thought the kids would like it. 

It meant getting the car from Katharina’s mom, so K was off on the train early to pick it up. Ezra baked a spanakopita and packed it up, along with the left-over picnic food from yesterday. We all (including kids) hauled bags and backpacks down to the street and stuffed them in the back of Agnes’s little car. We set out on what ended up being about an hour’s drive, slowly slowly winding through the city, mile after mile of wide boulevards or narrow lanes, all lined with the same 6-8 storey apartments. Kinda dystopian. We passed through neighbourhoods given over to a variety of immigrants and refugees, the latest being the Palestinians. This is probably a lot better than what they left behind. One person’s hell….

The last bit of the drive took us through a pleasant neighbourhood of single family dwellings, of which I’ve seen almost none in this city, and finally onto a single-car lane with cars parked all along, a signal that there may not be space ahead. There wasn’t. Ezra dropped us off with all the gear, and drove back to find a spot. 

We arrived at the boat (kayak/canoe) place to find they had no boats available. They were all booked up. But when Katharina had tried to book, the info she got was that they didn’t take bookings. I think she and Ezra were disappointed, but considering the heat, I really didn’t mind. We decided to hit the beach, which was a short walk through the trees. 

None of those canoes were available for us to rent, apparently

How do I describe this beach? It was a steep, sandy hillside, deeper than it was long; golden, dusty sand, scorching hot. People occupying all the shade but one small spot, up near the top of the hillside, which we beelined towards. We settled among the ciggie butts and the burning bodies, laid out the blankets and the feast. The girls and Ezra went swimming. I spent the time people-watching. To me, it was astounding, seeing so many bodies elbow-to-elbow, at the lakeshore and in the water, apparently loving it. I guess it’s all in what you’re used to. One person’s heaven….

Picnic in a patch of shade

Busy on a hot day

Ezra and Amelia and I batted around a pingpong ball for a bit. Amelia's pretty good at it! Better than me, but that's not saying much.

I don’t know how long we were there. Later in the afternoon, we left our stuff and went back to the boat-rental place, where there was a trattoria. We had drinks — our habitual non-alcoholic beer — and the kids had sprite and ice cream cones. It was maybe 5 o’clock, which is just the right time to load up on pre-dinner sweets, right? 

Back at the beach, we moved the gear closer to the lake, because the shade had moved too. Katharina had a swim this time, as did Amelia and Brookie. The girls made sand castles and sand cities, and finally we decided it was time to tackle the long drive home. 

We went for falafel/donair at a little shop up on Haupstraße, the main street. We watched Berlin go by. It was dusk when we headed home.