Invariably when I travel, its always wandering that I find more educational and fulfilling than going to museums or standard tourist sights. Wednesday was another reminder of that. I spent the day wandering in the area near and through Treptower Park, on Berlin's East Side. Its a vibrant but unpolished area bordering Kreuzberg. Like most any city in Europe, when the weather is nice, everyone is outside. I passed by the Badeschiff, a floating swimming pool on the river and Freischwimmer, a cool restaurant on the water. Further into the park everyone was out strolling, playing, grilling, you name it. The walk along the river Spree was beautiful; the green and lush along a waters edge was not what I normally think of for Berlin. I also located one of the only remaining watchtowers from the Berlin Wall, something I have been wanting to find for a long time. I always thought that finding it and seeing it would somehow give me a perspective and reality to a time when it was guarding no-man's land between the East and West border, but it really didn't. Still, its presence in the middle of a park with everyone around and I being the only one seeming to even notice it was somewhat surreal. Also surreal was my highlight of the day: finding the remains of Spreepark, a recently abandoned amusement park. Pics and details of that will have to wait for a later post.