Winter reached Berlin

Hey, finally the winter is here and the snow. On Monday there was Blitzeis (freezing ice?) and lots of accidents. It was really slippery and one had to be so careful not to fall. Now it's cold (minus 5 C) and snowing. Ambulances are still full.
Just 2 weeks earlier I thought that we would skip winter this time and go straight to spring. But I guess it's good that way for mother nature and building snowmen. Here just one from Potsdamer Platz made out of Lego.

Hello Autumn!

Last week it seemed that spring was back in Germany although the color of autumn had already arrived. Today the sun was there only in the morning and it has been slightly cooler. Now the sky is grey and it might rain. Again the "proper" autumn seems back in Berlin.

The leaves are changing colors which is very beautiful and many people used the Sunday for a walk. I don't know but somehow I like autumn. I find the season very pretty even with rainy days and cloudy and grey times. A walk in the park smelling autumn and seeing the richness of mother nature makes me feel good. And then to come home and drink a nice cup of chai. That's a perfect autumn day.

Here my impressions of our Sunday autumn walk.:

Yeah! Finally spring is here!

First of all, I have to apologize my dear readers, somehow I wasn't able to write for a while... busy, sick busy, sick.... seems like an vicous circle. So it's really helpful that the winter is over and spring is here although for a few days it was more summer than spring. Nature seems a bit confused.




The other day I read an article about the use to talk about the weather. Apparently  it helps people psychologically and is very useful. And Germans talk about the weather all the time. Mostly they complaint about it. Berliners are famous for complaining. However this winter I couldn't help complaining too. It seemed an awfully long winter, cold and dark.

Finally that the sun is out, Berliner enjoy the parks . And we're no exception. We've visited the Viktoriapark in the district Kreuzberg. This small hill Kreuzberg is 66 meter high and it's a lovely park.

 "In 1821 the Neoclassical Nationaldenkmal für die Befreiungskriege by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel was inaugurated at the top of the 66 m (217 ft) promontory west of the road to Tempelhof, then known as Tempelhofer Berg or Runder Berg (i.e. Tempelhof or round hill). The king renamed the hill Kreuzberg after the Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz) at the top of the monument, in September 1921 it became the name giver of the Kreuzberg borough created by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act. The monument comprised only a small plot of land measuring about 2,839.83 m² (30,567.7 sq ft). The surrounding fields were private real estate." (source: wikipedia)

From the top you have a beautiful view. -  even up to Mitte.

The waterfall, which ran in 1893 for the first time, was empty today, no water .... Probably still too early and the water might be running in a few weeks time. The water has to be pumped up.

There is also a famous Biergarten called Golgatha (entrance via Katzbachstrasse) which can be very busy on sunny days or warm nights. A very gemuetlich Biergarten to watch the stars on clear nights while drinking a beer. We didn't get the time but you should check it out.
Here a few more impressions about the day:

Some winter impressions ...

"Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice." This is how winter is described at Wikipeida. 

Although the days are slowly getting longer and the morning light shows up earlier, it seems that the grey winter lasts forever. It really seems the longest seasons in the year. Just today it snowed again in Berlin. I had to visit my doctor because I have a bit of a sore throat. On my walk in the snow I caught some winter impressions:

Late Outbreak of Summer

The weather in Germany is always good for a surprise. When I mentally prepared myself for autumn, what happens? It gets very hot, like on a hot summer's day up to 28 degree C. Already the news started discussing if this is very unusual but some voices mentioned hot September days in other years as well.
Just enjoy the sun and relax. The next autumn is sure to come soon.