Of course you have to spend the 4th of July picnicking in a park, right? Even if you’re not in the States and the park in question was built by socialists and features a enormous Soviet monument…. You know, close enough for government work. The weather was blessedly sunny and cool today for a change, so I decided to carpe the diem, picked up a few picnic supplies, and biked with my books and blanket over to Treptower Park, which isn’t far from my neighborhood and has been highly recommended to me.
It’s a beautiful park that segues into an even larger planterwald. There’s a long riverfront where the cruiseboats park, lined with ice cream and sausage kiosks and cute cafés. There’s a gorgeous rosegarden, an observatory, a puppet theater, and even an island with a gorgeous 19th-century boathouse and beergarden. Today it was positively teeming with schoolkids cashing out their last week of school in class picnics. Everyone was having such a good time: the old guys tanning with their shirts off, the highschoolers playing soccer, the toddler stealing their ball every time it drifted his way, the girls taking selfies with their ice cream cones. An excellent way to interpret the holiday abroad.
The Rookery 