So Andy and I finally got our bikes fixed (well, mine was fixed, he just bought a new one), and have begun the Great Ride West every morning, for the past 5 or so weeks.

It's a pretty fabulous thing to do.

Partially, this is because we get a fabulous view on our way to work...riding through Park Sanssouci.

Some days, there's a heavy fog all around, which looks very beautiful, and, when it just hovers thickly over the grassy stretches, grants the whole place a particularly magical vibe.

Ok, it doesn't render so well in photos. You'll just have to either take my word for it, or visit us in Autumn to see it for yourself!

Other days, its crisp as anything, and your fingers freeze solid to the handle bars.. but there's golden light and clear blue skies to make up for your pain!

Past the Chinese Tea-House.




The Lizzard and I pausing to take photographs.

This was about 30 seconds before I fell off my bike (in a sort of slow motion, sideways topple) due to failed attempt at taking a photograph without fully stopping the bike first.

At least I didn't land on the camera.









As soon as we leave Sanssouci, we cut onto a second, 'secret' path, which rockets us through a tunnel of trees towards our destination.


Apparently, there are Wild Things in the forrest (one friend swears she was once chased by a boar!), but apart from other cyclists, and the odd daschund, we've only ever met with creaures of the fungal variety.


I'm pretty sure that nothing screams AUTUMN more than little silver lace mushrooms poking through the leaf litter.







I kind of love the ride.

When I was at uni, and working a casual job in a nearby bakery, one of my favourite feelings was the solitude and power of zooming through the quiet (even better- rainy!) dark, the handle-bars loaded with wildly-swinging bags of bread.... all while everyone else in the sleepy suburb was tucked behind their curtained windows.


Like every other sane human being, I hate the 'Gym Membership Guilt'- that obligation that is always there, but that you just don't have the energy for when it's 8 pm and you've only just left work.

So I kind of love the feeling of exercising with an actual purpose. Not just going, but actually going somewhere. (And in pretty much the same amount of time it would take to get public transport home!)

Plus, the steady rhythm of peddle-pushing gives a low-impact journey, which seems to suit my Lonely Lung, and has the added benefit being possible sans sport bra!

When we exit the leafy tunnel, we switch to another bike path (Germany is really heaven for riders!), parallel to the train line and across the fields. Sometimes, there are even ponies!



And from there, it's just 5 or so minutes down the street to the Institute.

And sometimes, on our ride to or from- we meet up with some friends, and get to ride convoy!