Day 5 - Fun Saturday

Just after dawn we tiptoe past the quiet abbey of St Gertrude in Alexanderdorf. Apparently hikers (and others) can stay here and "turn inward" but for us the tent does the same job, with less fuss.

The morning's walk is alongside active farmland. Deb says it might be asparagus. Does asparagus have leaves? Deb says they're fronds, not leaves. I guess that makes sense.

Still early when we arrive in the town of Mellensee. Stock up on supplies at a friendly LIDL. Just down the road is the Mellensee train station. The railroad here is defunct, but the train station is still quite a happening place -- a "fun zone" of sorts, and luckily for us they open early on Saturday. They have mini golf, and every manner of wacky bicycle and other pedal-powered vehicles -- including little rail cars that run on the old rail line. 

Several jolly families are here enjoying the contraptions. We enjoy the snack bar and restroom. 

There's also an old Berlin S-Bahn train on display here, which fills Deb with memories of pre-re-unified Germany, when the U-Bahn and S-Bahn were separate systems and both used to skip stations to keep East- and West-Berliners apart. 

Fully refreshed, we proceed on a lovely tree-lined path with a canal on our right (where families are launching canoe trips) and the old railroad line on our left (where beer-laden fun zone customers pedal their rail cars to and fro.)

This takes us to the village of Zossen, where a town fair is in full swing.

Musicians play a reel on antique automated instruments. Dozens of booths offer carnival rides and prizes, and local food and drink. Too bad we can't eat everything. But at least I get one quarkbällchen with powdered sugar.

The painted trail blazes are hard to spot with all of the booths and wagons, but we eventually make our way through, out past the town cemetery, and into the woods.

We skirt the village of Shöneiche, which offers an excellent trailside rest area decorated with old boots.

They also nail boots to the trees to mark the trail route. Some of those boots look

like they're in better shape than mine, but no luck finding a matching pair.

We emerge from the woods into the fancy lakeside resort town of Kallinchen on the Motzener See. The cobblestone streets are lined with sports cars and fashionable people are milling around the sidewalk. The aroma from the hotel restaurant is so tempting that we decide to make an early day of it -- but no room at the inn, nor any place else in town.

Further south we find the homes of the lucky few who live here - mostly tiny houses tucked in among giant trees.

A few of the lots have been redeveloped with less modest homes...

And taken to the extreme, this sprawling estate:

We aim for a fancy hotel at the south end of the lake, but it's a crumbling ruin, closed for years perhaps. Dreams of the luxury life smashed, back into the woods and up a piney hill for a fun Saturday night in the tent.