Spreewald

The river Spree runs through Berlin. Halfway between Dresden and Berlin is Spreewald (Spree Forest). We were told we were going on a boat ride and imagined a large motorized passenger boat with large viewing windows. But what we got was a ride in large, low prams, propelled by German gondoliers, through a very quiet and lush series of canals, now on UNESCO's world heritage list. It turned out to be a wonderfully relaxing morning.

A characteristic haystack

The business end of the the gondolier's pole.

There was a little stop at a restaurant area, which also had a small museum, an aquarium, and a souvenir shop. The latter featured miniature "Trabbies" - the infamous Trabant car that the former DDR used to produce, and which is as much a symbol of the DDR-era as the Berlin wall is. In fact, we did do our fair share of Trabant-spotting from the bus. There aren't that many of them left, so my fellow travelers got excited every time they saw one.