Tag Archives: food

Accidentally Potsdam

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I decided on the weekend that I would take my bike out and do what I bought it for – some mountain biking.  However, I stumbled upon a path that led me to Potsdam, City of Kings and Emperors!

My day started relatively lazy, and it took a lot of motivation to put on my cycling clothes and go somewhere.  I had previously decided that I’d go to the Grunewald and see what the tracks there were like.  I figured they couldn’t be as bad as the MTB track that I cut my teeth on – the one that gave me scars.

I kitted up my trusty steed and, being lazy, hopped on the S-Bahn to get to the Grunewald.  It would involve about twenty minutes of travel and two changeovers to other trains.

I got to Westkreuz train station without many problems, only to discover that the train line I wanted to take wasn’t running at all!  A friendly driver recommended I catch his train to the Messe Süd station, as that wasn’t much farther from Grunewald than the Grunewald station itself.

My iPhone led me the way along towards the Grunewald, and I stumbled across this:

The serendipitous bike path

One of the famed cycle roads of Berlin!  No cars or pedestrians allowed, only cyclists!  I was intrigued and wanted to know where it headed, so I decided to follow it.  Sure enough, I eventually came across a sign.

Potsdam? I can make that!

My uncle’s girlfriend had already recommended I visit Potsdam, because it’s very pretty.  Less than 10km away?  Child’s play!  I had only already cycled 10km already, so another wouldn’t hurt.

The cycle path was heaven to ride on.  Of course, many roadies overtook me, but I was still cruising along at around 30km/h (on an MTB, with knobbly tyres).  Unfortunately, the path didn’t not go ALL the way to Potsdam, and I eventually had to share roads with cars and paths with pedestrians.

On the Wannsee

I passed the Wannsee on the way and tried to master the art of taking a photo of one’s self.  I was somewhat successful, but you shan’t see the countless terrible photos I took.  Thankfully, a kind tourist was kind enough to take a photo of me when I stopped just after the bridge into Potsdam itself.

I wandered around Potsdam, occasionally checking a map on my iPhone, and discovered that there was a large park not far from my location.  I meandered along, trying to find it, and came across Sanssouci Park, locationof Sanssouci, the summer palace of Frederick the Great of Prussia.

Eastern entrance to the Sansoucci Palace gardens

The only problem was that I wasn’t allowed to enter the gardens themselves because I had a bike with me.  I wasn’t even allowed to wheel it along!  I wasn’t going to let my bike out of my sight, so instead I decided to find some lunch.

Once again, with my trusty iPhone, I located some nearby restaurants and one immediately caught my eye, Café KieselStein.  They claimed to be organic, vegetarian and smoke-free.

After a hearty lunch of red lentil soup with chestnuts, spinach and potato bake with feta, an organic wheat beer, espresso and a piece of chocolate truffle torte, I felt re-energised and revitalised and ready to tackle the ride home!

Entree! Red lentil soup with chestnuts and fresh parsley

Turning, once again, to my trusty iPhone, I calculated a route that would take me home along the shortest route possible.

Berlin has cycle ways along every major road, so I simply assumed that this path would get me home without many issues.  Thankfully, I was right (even though I accidentally rode the wrong way for a few kilometres).  Unfortunately, I did not have the presence of mind to take any photos on the way home…

As it is, I got home, eventually, and hopped straight under the shower.

The result of cycling 53km

The result of the day?  A pleasant, unplanned trip and 53km of cycling.

Perth to Berlin

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I’ve been very lazy since arriving in Berlin.  In an effort to pull my thumb out, I shall regale you with tales of my flights.

After going to the movies on Wednesday, I raced to the airport to dump my luggage in time.  I had already checked in, but I hate being late to anything.  Unfortunately, the resulting stress resulted in an unfortunate tension headache.

Thankfully, my checked baggage scraped in at 20.4kg, and my hand luggage was only 5kg!  Perhaps I threw out too much stuff when packing…  Oh well, not to worry.  I have some money to replace the things I disposed of.

The flight from Perth to Singapore was uneventful, if a little turbulent  I sat next to a nice girl, Cara, from the Albany area, who was visiting her boyfriend in Copenhagen for two months.

Cthulhu is unable to find flesh to devour

The meals, as always with Singapore, were delicious.  Delicious vegetarian curry accompanied by a bit of tipple.

After landing in Singapore, the first thing I did was look for a massage.  I found one in the transit hotel, although they could only fit me in for 15 minutes when I was quite prepared to fork out for an hour to combat my tension headache.

Cthulhu finds the lack of Internet disturbing

While I waited for my turn, I tried connecting to the Internet to while away the time and found that I couldn’t!  I was thoroughly disappointed.

As it was, a 15 minute massage was quite enough!  “Uh oh,” I thought as the masseuse climbed up on the table “it’s getting serious!”.  There was no happy ending, however.  I’m sure the little, middle-aged Chinese lady would have either slapped me or called the police, had I suggested it.  The last thing I want is to be arrested in Singapore.

I ended up getting an Internet connection outside my departure gate, and managed to check in for my flight from Frankfurt to Berlin.  Hooray!  This gave me a little more breathing space in the one and a half hours I had to clear customs, pick up my baggage, get to the other terminal, drop off my baggage and board the flight.

The flight from Singapore to Frankfurt itself was also rather uneventful.  More delicious food, six hours of interrupted sleep and a terrible movie with the Rock made it pass relatively quickly.

Upon landing in Frankfurt and getting through customs with far less fuss than I was expecting, given I was entering Germany for the first time on a German passport, and a temporary one, at that!  Baggage claim took forever, unfortunately.

As I raced from one terminal to another, I noticed that another passenger was mirroring my steps.  I struck up a conversation with her and discovered that she was visiting relatives in Berlin for a couple of weeks.  We checked in and proceeded to a cafe for a breather.

Cthulhu is manhandled

I discovered that Manja runs a massage centre in Sydney, but I was too polite to ask for a massage in the middle of the terminal.  We exchanged phone numbers and will hopefully be catching up for coffee later this week.

The flight from Frankfurt to Berlin was incredibly short – less than an hour.  I’ve spent more time getting from one place to another in Perth in public transport!  It was just enough time to take off, get a free snack and land.

Then, I was finally in Berlin!  I’ll blag about my first few days later…