Spreewald

As people who love to get away from crowded streets and out into the countryside we had to visit Spreewald. (the Spree is one of the two rivers flowing through Berlin. Wald means woods) The town you drive to is called Lubbenau 65 miles south East of the city. There's an autobahn to get you there quickly. There is parking in the town square.

It's an area of 200 quiet canals where locals will glide you slowly through the waters on long punts. They have a little table on board and beer for sale. How German! Love that. The photos will be from both of our visits there in 2002 and 2006 and we will go back again next time we visit Berlin whenever that will be...

English is not widely spoken out here. The boatmen narrate as they are going along-in German- and luckily we understood maybe 30% of what was said. Just enough to give us the gist without complete comprehension. I remember saying "ja, ich verstehen" (yes, I understand) quite a lot even though I only had a vague idea of the story unfolding. Brush up on your German and you'll benefit. Many of the homes along the banks are small vacation bungalows so we didn't see many people around. Even so, along the banks you will find platforms where ladies have set up stalls selling pickles from the area and these are pickles as fresh and tasty as you fill find anywhere. Pickles and beer....good pairing.

In low season some of the punts will be covered up as there is not enough tourist traffic to run all of them

Our boatman 2002. Both times we have had the boats to ourselves

Punts tied up at a restaurant landing

On our punt in 06 we were joined by a friend from my high-school days. His name is Ciaran and he has been with us on several European trips. He teaches English in Milan currently.

This is where we got the pickles you saw on the table-just pull up alongside in your punt and order

The water is shallow and calm-a very smooth boat ride

Beautiful cottages. From some of the trees you will see Easter Eggs hanging

Lehde is the name of the area we are in at this point in the trip

We stopped in Lehde for 15 minutes to use the bathrooms 

Carol and I with the 2006 boatman who spoke entirely in German as (a) he thought we could speak it and (b) he couldn't speak English.

This last group of photos is from 2002 as we headed back to the dock we started from

We have no plans to return to Berlin at this time, although writing this has brought it vividly back to mind. A future visit to Spreewald will happen no doubt and maybe next time we will make a day of it and have lunch there as Lubbenau is such a peaceful  little town.

Back to the car and a steady 125 mph back to Berlin where of course your speed drops to a walk during rush hour traffic in the city streets.