It has become a routine that after German class on Thursdays Trevor & I find some new sight in Berlin. Well actually he tells me what he's doing and I invite myself along haha. Today was Peacock Island. It was occupied by King Fredrick Wilhelm II. True to its name, there are peacocks on the island.
To get there we had to take the S Bahn to the end of the line and then take a bus. Instead of waiting for the bus that goes all the way to Pfaueinsel, we got on the earlier bus and thus had to walk about 2500 m to get to the island. This is equivalent to about 1.5 miles. At least the walk was pretty! The entire path was through the forest. When we finally got to the end, we had to take a shuttle boat to the island. No kidding the shuttle boat went about 100 feet across the river. It was rather ridiculous how little distance there was.
King Fredrick Wilhelm II had many castles on the island. One was called the Lustschloss, summer palace. However, I like to think of it as love castle :P We stumbled upon another castle for his erotica. That is absolutely true...there was a sign. There were several little buildings on the island as well.
We stumbled upon cows too. It's rather strange because I don't think anyone lives on the island. And they were unlike any cows I've ever seen. We spent a few hours on the island. It is rather large and has several paths. There was a little hut that tons and tons of antlers in it. According to Trevor, they were pheasant antlers. I just took his word for it. It was kind of creepy...all those in there. We also found some miniature horses and sheep. They were all fenced in of course.
We were heading towards the exit, and we still hadn't seen any peacocks. I don't know why I was so sad about this. It's not like I've never seen one before. But then suddenly we saw them. It was like Christmas! We were in awe! They were so gorgeous. I guess it was after mating season, so they were a little scruffy and their tail feathers were mostly gone. But nonetheless they were still so pretty - brilliant shades of blue! We watched them and chased them for a while.
We left the island and began the walk back. Another 1.5 miles. I got my exercise today. That's for sure!! On the way home we stopped for ice cream. It has become a goal to find the best ice cream in Berlin. And believe me I have tried a lot of them. My host family thinks I am strange for eating ice cream so often. And especially when it's cold outside. They say it's just like Americans to want ice cream in the winter. Here most ice cream shops close in the fall. Last week we found a really amazing ice cream place, but when we went this week it was closed already. My host family had told me about a shop a little lady runs up the street from our house. So Trevor & I thought we try that this week. OMG!! It was the best ice cream you've ever tasted! No joke! I gained calories just from inhaling the smells in that shop! I wanted to say I wanted whatever was baking, but I didn't know how to say all that in comprehensible German. So I went with vanilla. I will definitely be frequenting that place!! YUM!!
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