let's take a gander - free-day #1

pictured: wild peas (not as tasty as they look) // me with a dirty body and some wild grasses // roadside flower

this morning we knew nothing. now, we've walked, we've experienced, and we've seen what there is to be seen in the brandenburg region (well at least a small part of it).

there's sheep just around the corner. there are lots of them in a space that's too small for so many sheep. they looked hot and they smelled like poop.

pictured: sheep in too small of a space

a creek is just around the bend - a creek with extremely stagnant water. i'm gonna go ahead and call it a swamp. a sign told us that it once use to be a water mill used by traveling religious groups and tradesmen. now it's just a place for mosquitoes to breed.

pictured: old water mill turned mosquito basin

about 2 kilometers from the farm there's a town - treplin. here, houses look pretty suburban but there are a few old barns that help make the lime green houses, hurricane blinds (really, they have these here, and it's not for hurricanes), and tacky gardens look a whole lot less depressing.
and being such a booming city, the even have their own grocery store - open for a total of 10 hours a week. today they were open from 8am-9am. we missed that window.

pictured: treplin garden art // treplin's prize berry

if you continue to follow the sand, sidewalk, sand path you'll eventually get to the shining star of treplin - a stand alone strawberry that sells cherries, safts, and of course, baskets of strawberries. i was hoping for a nice strawberry milkshake, or some cookies. but i guess that's just what you find inside big strawberries when you're in plant city, fla.

keep trekking another kilometer and there's a sign for snacks. and a parking lot full of cars. which is exciting, because it must mean there's something grand to be found. and there is! ice cream, coca-cola (i've never been so happy to get an ice-cold soda), and fries that are about as good as a school cafeteria are sold from a plump german. but that's just the icing on the sandy cake. there's a beach! and a lake! lots of people with sagging bodies scoot back and forth from the food stand and other lay about in the ironically - imported sand area.


but there's a path through the woods that takes you around the river - past naked men sitting on tree stumps in water, young couples fishing with homemade poles, and a tree that has a built in cable swing. and this is where we decided to take pleasure (and a well needed bath) in the clearest, warmest lake water we've yet seen. and it was probably the best thing ever (well, at least the best thing of the whole week).

pictured: me near the swing tree // alex swim out into the middle

if you're silly enough to leave the best thing ever and keep walking toward towns that seemingly offer nothing - then you'll eventually run into Petershagen. a blank town, there is a secret gem - i might even call it a secret garden! growing from inside an abandoned building, a magical jungle land could be found. unfortunately, there were no doors (they had been cemented shut) of which we could enter. there was a special feeling to it though. i imagined it being a really nice cafe.

pictured: welcome to petershagen // mysterious "green house" building for sale // wild life peaking out from inside // the hidden treasures

there's also a burial sight tucked inside the forest - a place where nazis rest. it was weird. we thought we heard wild boars.

pictured: forest cemetery

as we kept on walking, we eventually remembered that we'd have to walk back. and that's not as much fun as walking forward. so we turned around and headed home - just in time to hear that germany won their match in the world cup (we missed seeing it via live stream due to the ten or so wasps that decided to leisurely pop out from our room's ceiling every minute or so).