German Recreation Part II: A Walk in the Woods

Sunday was beautiful, so Lauren and I ventured into Berlin’s Grunewald, a 32 square kilometer forest in Berlin’s far west end, adjacent to the Havel River. Originally a hunting territory for kings and popularized as a living area by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in the 1880s, the Grunewald was almost entirely chopped down for firewood following Berlin’s destruction in the Second World War. Today the trees are back and hiking trails criss-cross it in every direction. So we set off Hänsel-style and Gretel-style (minus the bread) into the woods to see what we might find. Here are our observations:

--Germans really seem to love hiking. It was a beautiful day and a strong sense of Wanderlust brought the Berliners out of the city and into this wilderness retreat. An interesting linguistic note: Wanderlust, the loan word commonly used in English from the German wandern (to hike) and Lust (desire), is now surprisingly obsolete in German. Instead, to express a desire to travel, German now uses the word Fernweh, meaning “an ache for distance.” However they call it, I just think it's telling that their language even has a word for this concept.

--Lauren and I wore our most comfortable athletic shoes in preparation for a four-mile hike to the Grunewaldturm on the banks of the Havel. Most Germans, by contrast, were wearing Birkenstock sandals or dress shoes, and only occasionally hiking shoes.

--We came upon one of the many lakes in the Grunewald and thought it might be nice to stop off to relax a bit. Plenty of other people were already on the banks enjoying themselves, so why not? Mistake: at least half the people were nude, none of whom I wanted to see nude. The sight was too much for this prudish pair to handle, so we continued walking.

--The Grunewald was eerily quiet. Though it’s a protected natural area, we didn’t see or hear a single bird, rodent, or reptile for the duration of the day. Without people around, there were moments that were just downright creepy.

--Upon arrival at our destination, we were weary and needed to sit and rest a moment and maybe drink some water. Luckily, in typical German fashion, a Biergarten was tucked away right there waiting for us, exactly where we needed it. Of course no water was on offer; only beer and wine, and naturally, a lot of it.

The beer glass was MASSIVE and required 2 hands for Lauren to manage it.