North along the Berlin Wall Trail from Bornholmer Straße, the route runs along the Kolonnenweg between the railway tracks and the allotments. After the wall came down, this stretch was lined with cherry trees that were given to the people of Berlin by the citizens of Japan to mark the occasion. The pictures with the post were taken a little further along the route, close to the Wollankstraße station and the entrance to the Bürgerpark in Pankow, where more cherry trees mark the route – this time sandwiched between the railway and the backsides of the houses on Schulzestraße. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and the pink against the blue sky was striking. I wish someone would give me a cherry tree as a present, and that I had a garden to put it in… Continue reading →

Hard to imagine that it is the middle of March, as we walked along the Landwehr Canal in Kreuzberg, ice creams in the hand as others unfurled picnic blankets on the grassy banks, filled the terrace tables outside cafes and bars, and enjoyed the sunshine and the unseasonably warm temperatures. Berlin is a city of notoriously late risers, to the point that even large chain stores don’t bother opening until 10am, but perhaps it was the excitement of the weather and the feeling that – at this time of the year – you need to take every chance you can get to grab some fresh air, as it felt like the city woke as one, with a spring in their step as if about to burst into a song from the Muppets movie at any moment… Continue reading →

By Sharon Blackie:

March is a month that hangs in the balance. Sometimes held on the side of winter, sometimes swinging forward to spring. Mostly undecided. Or, as my great-aunt from County Durham used to say, ‘neither nowt nor summat’. There are buds on the willow and rugosa; the sparse winter carpet of waterlogged grass slowly thickens in the paddock. But beware of taking too much for granted: just one salt-laden south-westerly gale and March can turn on you, leaving devastation in its wake. Sometimes, March kills its own babies. Continue reading →

At seven o’clock this morning there was no snow on the ground. By nine o’clock all but the roads with the churning wheels of rush hour traffic was covered. It feels too warm for the snow to stick around, let alone fall in the first place, and on the U-Bahn the reality of the weather up on the surface had yet to penetrate the report on the info screens that were insisting on rainfall in the daily forecast. The snow will most likely all be gone by this evening, but it left us with some beautiful moments from that shortest of periods between the snow settling and the daily life of the city trampling it to mush. Continue reading →

By Annika Ruohonen:

It has been snowing since Wednesday. After a dark December we can now enjoy snowy January. I have been roaming the  coastline, but since there hasn’t been any direct sunlight, the photos remain quite dark even when shooting during daylight hours.

There is a deer feeder in the forest where I’ve been often lately and today I happened to see three deer running on a slope with snowy trees. It was such a delightful view. I hope to catch some photos of those three some time later. The forest is full of deer marks and it is so enjoyable to follow them. You can see how they’ve been running around enjoying the snow. The snow is about knee-deep at the moment, so with good gear walking in it is not a problem at all. I didn’t bring my snowshoes today but I still managed to walk in places where there weren’t any snowmobile tracks. It is a good work-out though, not to mention the snow-clearing job that was waiting for me in my home yard. Continue reading →