Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel) in the Wannsee – Havel lake and canal network in the SW corner of Berlin along the border with Brandenburg. When West Berlin was surrounded by a walled and guarded GDR, this was a lovely natural escape from the city vibe, which I myself first visited with my mother in May 1980. Steve – now a renowned and published scholar in German studies – and I spent a delightful late-May weekend in Berlin recently, during which in addition to fabulous educational narration from him, we did a lovely cruise during which we also stopped off and re-explored this island, a former royal back-to-nature pleasure garden from the 18th Century, complete with peacocks to add to the vibe, and royal dairy built to look like a monastery.
Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel) in the Wannsee – Havel lake and canal network in the SW corner of Berlin along the border with Brandenburg. When West Berlin was surrounded by a walled and guarded GDR, this was a lovely natural escape from the city vibe, which I myself first visited with my mother in May 1980. Steve – now a renowned and published scholar in German studies – and I spent a delightful late-May weekend in Berlin recently, during which in addition to fabulous educational narration from him, we did a lovely cruise during which we also stopped off and re-explored this island, a former royal back-to-nature pleasure garden from the 18th Century, complete with peacocks to add to the vibe, and royal dairy built to look like a monastery.
(so much world, so little time....) 
A fun island and a fun day!
July 2, 2024 at 13:07