I had a much-needed nature day last week outside the city with my photo-cycling enthusiast friend, Michael. We got wonderfully lost biking 40+km around the lakes, forests and farmland surrounding Potsdam, a small city to the southeast of Berlin. We just kept following the bike path around Potsdam's two lakes until we were off both our maps, circling different lakes and forests and swamps and farmland. Where are we? Who cares?!
Absolutely perfect weather and not a cloud in the sky, and I had no desire to find my way back to civilization. But I did locate some neat, photogenic abandoned German country homes to explore; fed ugly little ducklings while eating lunch on the lake; was reminded how difficult it is biking through sand; and even trespassed onto a random, fenced-off dock for the sake of a photo opp – also, because fences on docks are dumb!