Well, today is (for now) my final day of gainful employment - not that I'd really notice, as I had the last two weeks off as part of my severance agreement. I've spent those weeks doing a lot of walking around Berlin. My go-to place for getting a lot of walking done has been the former Tempelhof airfield, where it's easy to time yourself as you walk the almost exactly 6 km of the perimeter; so far, I've managed to do 3 rounds in one sitting, but at a speed of only just under 1 hour/round or about 9:30 minutes per km.
Whenever I can, I also try walk previously undiscovered parts of the city. The district of Neukölln is pretty interesting; it has a large proportion of people of Turkish or Arab descent, so much so that one might easily imagine oneself to be in Istanbul, but it also is a fairly hip area, with many students and artists. There is a lively street scene, with sidewalk cafés and eateries. I hadn't really thought of Neukölln as a very "green" district, and it isn't, but recently I finally managed to visit the Koernerpark, a small but lovely park that has an almost mediterranean feel to it. Here's a few pics:
Tuscany? No, Berlin! The ivy-covered arcades on the right house an art gallery and a very nice café.
Slightly bizarre (and miraculously un-tarnished) sculptures add to the charm.
Forbidden (also: uneatable) fruit. My hands don't normally look so pudgy, I blame it on the heat.
