überlin

Last week was our 13 year anniversary (eeek!), so to celebrate we packed up Olive and her friend Edna, and headed to Grünewaldsee for the day. We’ve been there a few times and the Hundestrand is one of our favourite places to go in Berlin. You can let the dogs off the leash so they can frolic with their furry friends while you chill and eat guacamole like a boss. Below are a few iPhone snaps of the day – dog pervs, enjoy!

If you go down to the woods today… you’ll see wild Bullies scurrying through the undergrowth! We took Olive and her bessie, Frenchie-pug mix Oskar, back to Grunewald for an epic dog walk (auf Deutsch: Gassi gehen). The weather may not have been as good as the last time we were at Grunewaldsee, but our silly dogs and their idiot owners had a ton of fun. Release the batpigs!

Our recipe for a perfect Berlin summer day:

1. Take 1 dog. We recommend a Bully, but any dog will do.

2. Add 1 blazing hot Berlin summer day.

3. Stew in a airtight S7 train. Time may vary, but our lump of dog took 50 minutes to cook through.

4. Leave to cool for about 30 minutes (or as long as it takes to walk from Grunewald to the “dog beach” at Grunewaldsee Hundestrand).

5. Arrange your other ingredients on a picnic blanket. We recommend wine (white or rosé), bite-sized chunks of fruit and veg and assorted dips.

6. Sprinkle your dogmeat with water to keep from drying out.

7. Mix well with other dogs.

8. Enjoy. Guten Appetit!

Pfaueninsel on Wannsee is an idyllic retreat from the hustle and bustle (and broken bottles) of Ringbahn-bound Berlin. At the end of the S7, a short bus ride and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it ferry trip transport visitors to a lush little island covered in flowers and stalked by brightly-feathered patrols of peacocks. This designated UNESCO World Heritage Site was originally created as a testament to Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II’s favoured mistress, and it seems the romance of the place is infectious – even my parents were caught holding hands as they strolled under a leafy canopy! As ever, Slow Travel Berlin have painstakingly record the history of Pfaueninsel, which means we can leave you with our impressions of the place – i.e. the pretty pictures!

Photos by Zoë Noble Photography

Schlechtes Wetter! We’re feeling pretty smug that we chose last week to visit Schlachtensee, as the dry 30°C+ conditions were perfect for a day by the water. It seems like most of Berlin had the same idea, as what is probably the city’s most easily accessible lake (next door to both S- and U-Bahn stations) was teeming with half-naked (and some fully-naked) people of all ages, paddling, swimming and soaking up the sun. We chilled out, had a picnic, walked the 5.5km circumference of the lake – half of which permitted dogs of the leash (good news for Olive!) – before making the short S-Bahn ride home. Here are Zoë’simpressions of a day out in beautiful German nature.