I cannot believe what I just did.

Today was one of those days that people have when they are travelling. They meet someone interesting who knows about something cool then they go do it and then for all eternity they bore their friends back home with stories about The Time They Did ___________ in _____________ with ______________.

So please forgive this indulgence.

I had the best-laid plans today, namely: to go on a bike tour of Berlin's famous WWII and Cold War sites. However, about five minutes after departure, it started pissing down and I decided I did not really want to spend the rest of my day in wet jeans. So I turned back and took a raincheck on the bike tour for tomorrow. Of course, the sun came out shortly after I decided to give up, but I spent a really nice afternoon wandering around Friedrichshain and had lunch at a gorgeous little cafe.

I asked for a salad plate as I have been feeling the effects of German stodge these past few days. I ended up with this:



Yeah, that's four different cheeses right there. Thanks, Germany.

After lunch, I met up with my friend The Professor and we went on an adventure to Tempelhof, the former airport, now a public space.

Quite simply, it was one of the most amazing places I have ever been.






We rode from the city for about half an hour before arriving at the park.








It's impossible to describe the size of this place (both the airport terminal and the runways). But I will say this: riding on a bicycle down the runway of a disused airport in Berlin is probably the coolest thing I could ever hope to do. I completely lost my shit over this.



There was all sorts of activity going on at the site -- skateboarding kite surfers, rollerblading, and some little makeshift kitchen gardens. It was heaven.






It was an experience I find hard to describe. On one hand, the incredible vastness of concrete and tarmac should have made the place feel incredibly bleak. All that space, and not one tree. On the other, the community atmosphere was palpable, and it was amazing to see Berliners using the public space so enthusiastically, despite the fact that it lacked pretty much every single aspect of a conventional park.

We rode back to the city to drop off our bikes, caught the U-bahn to our hotel, then went out for Indian food in Friedrichshain. The Professor was quite excited to be able to drink beer in the street on the way home without getting arrested, so that he did before we enjoyed a while longer in the hotel courtyard talking rubbish and hanging out.

So, apologies in advance to those unfortunate souls who will so generously ask me: "how was your trip?" I can tell you I am probably going to bang on about the day I got to ride to an old Nazi airport with a professor of landscape architecture, hear theories of public space, then cycle down a runway. Soz.