23 April 2016 - Berlin, Germany - Part 1

I've been working in Berlin for the past week and have one more week to deliver. This is my second visit to this city. The weather has been a mixed bag of good and bad, fluctuating between sunshine and 10°C (50°F) and rain and 0°C (32°F). For the most part I have enjoyed some long runs and walks when the weather has behaved.

Every work day I have walked past Checkpoint Charlie, a historic relic (replica) of the Cold War.

I've really enjoyed going for long runs and walks at the local parks


I paid a visit to the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium. This is a very nice Zoo, up there with the quality of the San Diego Zoo. They have one of the best Big Cats displays I have ever seen, I got to get frighteningly close to animals that could easily turn me into dinner. I also found the penguins, my favorite!

 The Aquarium was average, I like the one in Boston and Atlanta much more. The Combination ticket cost 20 Euro. 

On Sunday I completed one of my last long training runs before my Half Marathon in Orange County on May 1. I started the day running through the Tiergarten and ended up looping at mile 5.5 at the Castle located in Schlosspark Charlottenburg. I only had a goal of completing 10 miles (about 16 km) but due to the beauty of the day and the cool trails I kept going further for exploration.

I have run to the end of the Zoo/Tiergarten before, but since last year had not gotten to continue following the canal.

Near the end of the run I found an outdoor antique flea market...I love going antiquing! What a perfect end to a near perfect weekend.

Stay tuned for Part 2...