venturing out (V)

we sat on the grass by the lake. i imagine the place on a hot summer's afternoon: swarms of teenagers, awkwardly trying to impress one another, families picknicking, inflating dayglow-coloured sea horses, fastening the ribbon of a sunhat.

that evening, it was the absence of all that.

venturing out (IV)

a long-deserted country manor, used occasionally as film set. we peered through the windows, and saw this.

venturing out (III)

 a perfect day out. thanks, sylee!

venturing out (II)

there is a quiet beauty in things that grow.

venturing out (I)

we left the city late in the morning, to explore, to blow away the cobwebs.

p.s.: finally some signs of life on mostly berlin, too.

to the lake

we went to the lake, like every year. some things just have to turn into traditions.

more about ferry trips over on my berlin blog, here and here.

(i am really quite touched by your comments on my five words series, they mean a lot!)

across the lake

in the end, we didn't make it to the pfaueninsel. instead we took the ferry across wannsee. one of my favourite day trips in berlin.

follow my blog with bloglovin

for the love of parks

when i was a child, my parents took us for a sunday walk as long as i can remember. being the eldest of six siblings, i remember many moments when we arrived at our destination and people stopped, stunned, to look at us getting out of the car. we must have seemed quite exotic. those walks were an endless source of fascination for me, we'd be walking around for an hour or two, in some forest or park or along a river. we'd pick up the kind of things you find as a child: sticks, chestnuts, leaves to be pressed at home, feathers, stones. only when i was a teenager, i had a phase were i'd rather stay at home than join my family for the sunday walk. then i went back to being a passionate walker. i know some people who wish i wasn't, since i make them treck along with me for. but i simply love it. living in a city doesn't always make this easy. but there are parks.

these photographs were taken at the buergerpark in bremen, again, holding lots of childhood memories for me, as it's the city i grew up in. would you believe this is in somewhere in the middle of a city?

one of my favourite spots here in berlin is the pfaueninsel (peacock island). prussian king friedrich wilhelm II initiated quite a bit of building work and landscaping there, as he used the island - conveniently close to the palace in potsdam - as a love nest for himself and his mistress wilhelmine enke. there are also stories about one of the prussian kings keeping perfumed cows on the island so he could come and milk them. fancied himself being a farmer, but without the mess, please.

this weekend, my sister and her family are visiting. and there is a high probability we will visit the pfaueninsel, even more so, as until the end of october, you can still see olafur eliasson's blind pavilion on the island.

well now, enough daydreaming, it's back to work for me. have a good day!

follow my blog with bloglovin

apples

my friend eva convinced me to come and join her on usedom (an island in the baltic sea) last weekend by texting me: 'it's wonderful here, the garden is full of apples. you must come, we can cook.'

and so i went. a four-hour train ride later (it's not that far really, but the regional train stops just everywhere) i was there. i love that garden. we picked some apples and gathered others that had fallen off the tree and made apple cake, apple jelly and a savoury dish with apple and onion sauce.

as you can see, eva is not only very convincing but also a mean hand model.

corner view: beach

hmm. berlin is not on the coast. so where do i find a beach for you?

then again, if you took a map, you'd see that the city is dotted with and surrounded by hundreds of lakes, some bigger, some smaller. many of them can be reached by public transport and/or bike, which is just fabulous. it may take a while to find a place where you can actually access the water, since there tends to be much reed and some people have their houses built directly on the lake, so some of the lakeside is private property. but keep looking and you'll find small beaches, some of them tiny, where you can have your picnic and even go for a swim. i've still got plenty of lakes to discover, which i can't wait for. so far, my favourites are wannsee (which is huge) - where i love to take the ferry (some pictures about wannsee and the ferry over at my other blog, mostly berlin) - and sacrower see, a very small lake not far from potsdam. this is where i took my pictures. what a lovely day that was.

have a good one yourselves!

take a look at other corner views around the world here:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad, caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage,trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana,denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e,janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa,britta, virgina, april, rebecca, b, kyndale

samantha, karen, kristina, angelina,  dorit, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, nicki, ruth, mcgillicutty,

desiree, di, travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama, amanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan

p. s. : there are some beach bars in berlin as well. i haven't been in a while, but jeanne at sans soucis recently posted some pictures of a 'strandbar' in potsdam and you can also see some here.

the old garden

around this time last year we went to usedom, an island in the baltic sea and stayed in a friend's house. there and then, i fell in love with the old garden and the shed. this is how i would like my allotment to look if i'll ever get round to having one. the house itself it refurbished with all mod cons, but i love the charm of the old, unchanged bits. they quietly tell their stories. a shame though that places like these are ever harder to find these days.

more film

remember i told you about our day trip to sacrow, when we took the ferry across wannsee and cycled to sacrow to see the church and then on to sacrower lake for a picnic (where the photos in that post below were taken)? well, i took some pictures of the church as well, again using cross-processing. i know my friends sometimes have to roll their eyes at me lately for lugging around two cameras and taking pictures all the time. they have a point. but i just had to take home some memories of that lovely day. 

on film

finally gotten round to have some film developed. these pictures were taken again with the old SLR on our day trip to sacrow. i used colour transparency film which i had cross-processed. the colours are quite surreal. i think these shots look almost like stills from an imaginary 1970s super-8 film.