Feigen

Every once in a while we would buy some new exotic fruit from the grocery store, look up online how to cut and eat it, and try it.  In this way we have tried Lychees, Dragon Fruit, Tamarillos, and a variety of other fruits.  One that I never tried were fresh figs.  I eat them dried and love them.  But whenever there would be a few fresh ones at the store they were so expensive especially compared to the packages of dried ones that I never bothered.  I figured it was better to try something I had never had in any form.

Here in Berlin, fresh figs, or Feigen, have become a fall treat for us.  They are in season in Turkey and get shipped here.  You can buy them for most of the year and they are still cheaper than in the US.  However, when it is the height of the season, they reduce in price to about a pound for 3 Euros. 

They make a great quick dinner after a long day of work.  Slice up a fig, put it on some fresh baked bread with some prosciutto and arugula (which the Germans love and eat on everything including pizza) and add some Balsamic vinegar and you have a great sandwich to go with your favorite sides.  I am not a big sandwich-for-dinner person, but these are worth it. 

This summer while back in the states I picked up a Food Network magazine that had several jam and preserve recipes.  One of them was a Fig and Ruby Port Preserve.  I have never been tempted to make my own jam, but this one called to me.  I have had fig jam before at La Femme, a Turkish restaurant near Hermannplatz that makes their own jams to go with their simit rings (sesame bread rings) for breakfast.  I love all of their jams.  Generally they serve strawberry or some other berry, but every once in a while you will get fig instead.

So I went for it.  I bought a few canning jars and a bunch of figs and tried the recipe.  I had to use Tawny Port as it is difficult to find Ruby Port here (3 stores, 2 of them wine stores and still no luck, which is crazy considering they come from Portugal which is in the EU).  I am also pretty sure that the La Femme puts honey in their jam so I traded out about 1/4 a cup of sugar for honey.  Since I tripled the recipe it took about triple the time to cook down, but it was completely worth it.  The preserves were amazing with strong cheese, on scones, and I bet will be the best on vanilla ice cream!  I can't wait till I have time and cheap figs again!

Ping...Pong

For the most part it doesn't get so hot in Berlin that it is unpleasant to be outside.  This is good since there is almost no air conditioning here.  It is also not as humid as the east coast of the US.  That means that on a nice summer day it is fun to go to a park.  And Berlin has a ton of parks.

Victory Column

There are big ones like Tiergarten in the center part of the city.  This park contains the Victory Column (Siegessäule in German) and is right near the Brandenburg Gate.  It is hard to tell how big the park is when you are in it because it is broken up by a streets and rivers and lakes and also sectioned off by trees and paths.

Soviet Memorial in Treptower

One of my favorite large parks is Treptower Park.  It is in eastern Berlin along the Spree.  Along the river there are cafes and snack stands.  The most appropriate one seems to be the smoked fish stand.  Here also there are many paths and sections to the park including open fields, flower gardens, and wooded places for shade.  Treptower Park also has a large Soviet War Memorial which I enjoy walking through.  The most interesting thing about the park is the SpreePark, an abandoned amusement park.  It is all fenced off and there are many trees that make it difficult to see into the park, but you can see the ferris wheel and a beat-up fiberglass dinosaur or two.  Apparently this park was open until 2001.  But it seems much older and creepier because it seems overgrown.

Can you find the ferris wheel?

Dinosaurs

The other large park we go to is Tempelhof Airfield.  According to Wikipedia it gets its name because the land was originally owned by the Knights Templar in medieval times.  As I have mentioned this airport is the one used for the Berlin airlift when allied troops brought in food and supplies to West Berlin while roads and water routes were closed off between June 1948 and September 1949.  The airport building, rebuilt by the Nazis, was at one point in the top 20 largest buildings in the world.  Now the building is used for events like a large fashion show.  And the airfield is used as a park.  There are areas to grill, dog parks, mini-golf, and gardens.  And you can rollerblade, bike, or skate sail on the runways.  This is a park you don't want to come to if you are looking for shade though.

Viktoriapark- looking up to the monument

There are many smaller parks as well.  Viktoriapark has a lot of space for picnics and walking but its main thing is that you can walk about the hill (one of the very few in Berlin) and look out over the city.  There is a monument to the war against Napoleon at the top of the hill and this is a great place to watch the sunset.

View from top of Viktoriapark

A park we recently went to is Volkspark Hasenheide near Hermannplatz.  You can almost walk from this park directly to Tempelhof but you have to go on the road for a little bit to make it between.  We went here just to walk through a park on a nice afternoon.  What we found was that this park also has mini-golf and a mini-zoo (camels and llamas plus more). 

There are also mini-parks with just a playground and some shady spots and some sunny spots dotted throughout the city.

The one thing that most of these parks have in common (other than Tempelhof maybe) is that they have ping pong tables.  These are smooth slab tables with metal "nets" so they don't get ruined by weather.  You can bring your own paddles and balls to most parks and play a round or two.  While I am not the biggest ping pong player, I find this a nice thing to do at a park.  Something to think about in the parks in the US.

Overall I think that the parks in Berlin offer something for everyone:  shade, sun, history, water sports, ping pong, grass, walks, and all without having to be too far away from home.