Winter in Berlin

Berlin finally got a good winter, with some decent snowfall and two weeks of temps below freezing. This enabled lots of interesting outdoor activities we don't normally get. We're still in Lockdown, so any reason to go outside and do something different is Heaven-sent!

And now some pics and comment:

In Berlin you can rent cars by the hour, so we use this to get into the countryside for hikes. Here we went with some school friends out to the tiny lake town of Bad Saarnow for a forest walk.

Christine and Cass take in the forest. Were it not for Lockdown/Covid we'd be in Austria with these people on our Feb ski-break from school but there you go.

Remains of an old ski jump at the top of a ravine. Great sledding hill anyway!

Back in town, we went to go check out Viktoria Park in Kreuzberg, which was completely iced-over after the new snow had been packed down and frozen repeatedly.

Jasper takes a small jump.

Another country-outing: the town of Hagelsberg where a small rise of 200M constitutes the highest peak in Brandenburg. Oh yes it does. Owing to this, there was a battle here during the Napoleonic Wars between the French and an alliance of Prussia and Russia. French lost this one.

All outings are well-provisioned!

From this angle you can almost see the steepness of the huge Hagelberg. Try really hard! Yes, we will drive an hour into the countryside to find even this level of hill to play on.

Back in Berlin at the Volkspark at the end of our street. It also has a hill, and is much easier to get to.

In Celsius.

Local ponds finally froze over, providing lots of ice-play opportunities.

The boys lounge on the thick ice. Nothing better to do than lounge on ice really!

Our street.

Nighttime near the Volkspark entrance.

Social Distance = 4 robots holding mustard.

We took the train out to the Grünewald Forest to meet up with some friends, drink warm Glühwein, and discuss life. Afterwards, the four of us climbed up the rubble mountain to the old CIA listening station ruins on top. From here there is an amazing sled run, easily the longest in the city.

The old radar domes that used to spy on the East German radio traffic.

Snow coverage was not 100%, so sliding down you end up fountaining muddy slush into your face. Which, if you are Jasper, is NOT A PROBLEM.

Back over at the Volkspark. JFK Townhall in background behind the Schöneberg U-Bahn station and frozen pond.

One morning Jay decided it was a "Historial Moment" in the city, since A. there is a lot of snow and B. the city seems mostly deserted since no tourists and everyone else is huddling inside. We went out to check out the Brandenburg Gate and Unter den Linden street.

It was not a good morning for this, as the wind was intense. But the kids pretended like we were at the beach anyway and Jasper became buried in snow. Willingly.

Meanwhile Cassandra did lunges to stave off hypothermia.

Jasper on the ground as the snow devils whip around him.

Maybe I will start a photo series of Jasper lying in front of gigantic buildings. In the snow.

After a couple weeks the temps starting heading back towards the melting point, so this won't be around much longer. But it has been fun to have some "winter in the city" memories this year at least!