Berlin – Christmas is the feast of the family. And despite the fourth corona wave, many will certainly not miss the opportunity to celebrate with their loved ones and relatives this time as well. But even the most beautiful celebrations can get a little annoying at some point. If the family sits together for three days, there will be signs of wear and tear. The attention is waning, the goodwill to hear the joke from grandpa again. Here are a few tips for the little getaways in between.
Christmas hiking through the forest: It’s not just the boy who needs some fresh air. After a long meal and long periods of sitting at the dining table and in front of the Christmas tree, everyone feels the need to move around. However, you have long since known your walks inside and out, and new, exciting tours are welcome. They shouldn’t be too long or too far away, after all on winter days it isn’t light that long. Berlin’s foresters know the real insider tips. They are out and about in the districts every day and are happy to reveal their wonderful routes. Thorsten Wiehle’s books are called “Auf Förster’s Paths” (via travel tours; 14.95 euros), and the tours are also available on the Internet.
At Christmas, the 1.5 to two-hour hike through the Rahnsdorf district to the forest chapel “To the knocking Christ”, built from bright red bricks, is ideal. The little church has stood on Waldstrasse in Hessenwinkel since 1910. When it fell into complete disrepair, citizens collected around 130,000 marks for the renovation, and in 1997 it was re-inaugurated.
It starts from the Wilhelmshagen S-Bahn station up to the Püttberge. They get their name from the Low German word “pütt” for small, no wonder, because they are only 68 meters high. Looking down from the dune, overgrown with pines, deciduous trees, bushes, one looks into the glacial valley. In the south, the hikers then walk on the Rialtoring through the residential and weekend house area New Venice. Twelve bridges lead over the five canals, the houses are lovely to look at, maybe a boat splashes slowly through the water world. The beaver fur road leads out of the village. At the Waldstraße intersection, turn left towards the northeast, along Waldstraße to the left, the chapel will soon be there.
If you’ve had enough, take bus 161 and drive home via Erkner. For a culinary highlight, you can walk to Eichenstrasse and then Lindenstrasse to the Dämeritz-Seehotel. With a view of the water, you can enjoy beef roulade for 19 euros. Susanne Dübber
The new dictator of everyday life: I don’t have to go at all. At least not because it’s Christmas and the whole family huddles together again and then at some point it gets on your nerves. I like Christmas, but most of all I like my family. We know exactly what we’re up against and are not at all prone to festive arguments. So I don’t even have to look for small or large escape routes to escape the hustle and bustle. Still I do.
But there is a completely different reason, and it’s called Corona. Or, to put it more precisely: Home office – that much too comfortable time when the way to work no longer consists of five kilometers of cycling, but of five steps from the bedroom to the study. That makes five kilos of pandemic bacon per Corona year, so so far ten kilos.
They want to be fought. My observation: Most of them still take the first five kilos. You are not to blame yourself, but the world situation. The big doubt comes after the second five kilos or when the doctor intervenes. But then it has to be followed consistently: Sugar celibacy, carbohydrate stinginess, beer boycott – and these newfangled 10,000 steps a day.
The mobile phone counts every single step. The cell phone is now the new dictator of everyday life. In the morning, when the child is brought to school, another 3,000 steps are quickly added. At lunchtime when shopping for vegetables, just walk around the block twice. In the evening before going to sleep, it is really easy to walk up and down the promenade. And already the 10,000 steps are done, and the bacon may not melt like vanilla ice cream in the South Pacific, but it does melt more easily than feared.
And that is why the pedometer does not give up its authority on holidays either. The many wonderful holiday calories are just waiting to be melted. That traditional delicious roast, that wonderful dark chocolate, the holiday beer. So: I have to go now. Jens Blankennagel
Lonely together in the pub. If you want to escape Christmas, you should ask my buddy Dima. He’s half-Russian and hates the festival. “Christmas is like the negative side of socialism,” he often preaches, “a forced kind of community that is supposed to be liked but instinctively rejected.” He doesn’t even listen to the radio in December so as not to expose himself to the holiday mood. Instead, he goes to bars on Christmas Eve.
This traditionally includes a long walk through empty Berlin. “In the pandemic in particular, everything was orphaned,” enthuses Dima from the previous year, “a bit like the earth after human extinction.” At the same time, you feel like you’re in the village, as if you wanted to say hello to everyone who walks on the street. However, at Christmas 2020 it was difficult to find an open pub in Berlin during lockdown.
Dima found what she was looking for at Breitscheidplatz; we cannot be more precise, as it was probably illegal. “There were actually a few people sitting there,” he remembers, “all more likely over 50, and also more likely those who are perhaps not quite so voluntarily alone at Christmas. 80 percent men, I would say. ”There was a lot of lonely smoking and staring at the wall where some US sport was still being shown.
“Then I stared for a while, only that I chose my smartphone instead,” says Dima. He had as little need to talk to anyone over two or three beers as did those around him. “You didn’t have to talk, you understood each other that way,” he says. “Because of this special situation.” Common in loneliness. “Any word would have only destroyed that.”
Then another walk to sober up from the party. “I don’t like the whole lobotomy around Christmas, those cheesy songs that lull you,” says Dima. At the same time, as a freedom-loving person, he also enjoys the days. “When you’re alone in Berlin for Christmas, nobody gets on your nerves. Nobody calls about work. You don’t have this peace on a normal Tuesday. “
When everyone is partying, he can let himself go. I think Dima likes the festival in his own way. Dominik Bardow
For bratwurst in the courtyard of Schloss Diedersdorf. Several holiday escape needs can be satisfied with a bike ride: fresh air, exercise and being alone (even if you ride in a group, there are always opportunities to roll solo). My recommendation is the Schloss-Diedersdorf-Runde. The starting point is the Südende S-Bahn station. From there you roll to the Teltow Canal in the direction of Teltow. It is sometimes a bit crowded on public holidays and when the weather is nice, but the path is actually wide enough for little stress.
In Teltow it goes south through Ruhlsdorf. There is currently a big construction site, but you can get through it by bike. After Neubeeren, take a sharp left, go under the Großbeeren S-Bahn stop (great curve, almost 360 degrees) and take the expressway through Großbeeren, towards Diedersdorf Castle (signposted).
Most of the time you are on your own, well-paved bike paths. The construction site in Ruhlsdorf is a little bumpy, but the entire route is suitable for racing bikes. If you do the lap like this, you have about 30 kilometers behind you when you arrive at Schloss Diedersdorf. Perfect for the break. The beer garden is closed, but the restaurants are open (order in advance!), On Sundays and public holidays there is currently a bratwurst stand in the courtyard between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.
The way back is via Heinersdorf. Shortly before the city limits, turn left onto the walled cycle path, which you follow until you reach the Teltow Canal again. It brings you back to the Südende stop. That is a good 40 kilometers, i.e. about two and a half hours of driving time. If you start in the morning on sunny days, you should drive counterclockwise. Then you have the sun on your face most of the time. Tobias Miller