Berliner Mauerweg: Wollankstrasse to Warschauer Strasse (18 km)

So I continued the Berliner Mauerweg. This time, I went through the city centre, and therefore, this is the section that is most touristy.

I started in Wollankstrasse, where I left off. I wanted to do this trail again, since it's really been awhile since I was in these places, and I liked to see how my surroundings have changed.

Going south from Wollankstrasse, it was a pretty trail. It was also good timing that the trees were in full bloom, and there were pink flowers everywhere. The weather was cooperative, and people were outside.

I remember seeing this statue once a very long time ago. I am glad to see that it is still here.

I crossed the rail tracks via the Schwedter Weg, which looked rather decent nowadays. And eventually I ended up in Mauerpark, which is a cultural hub of Berlin. There's the antique market on the weekends, which still seems to be a thing, even though things now look cleaner than I remember. And the Bear Pit Karaoke is perhaps still a thing, even though it was morning and no one was performing at that time.

Then I passed by the Berlin Wall Memorial, which is perhaps one of the most touristy stretches of this trail. There were plenty of visitors checking out the remnants of the wall in many places.

This abandoned rusty bridge is still here, as I remember it from before. Nothing changed in this regard.

And then the trail follows the river into Mitte. I saw various important points of interest in Berlin. I have been to these places once in the past, but given that I have been living here since 2012, it's been awhile since I was a tourist in my own city.

At some point, I reached Tiergarten. I saw Brandenburg Gate. And near the edge of the wide park there were memorials of people who died near the wall. And of course a statue of Goethe.

And then I went to a neighbourhood which I used to frequent before, but not anymore. This is the neighborhood where I used to work between 2012 and 2016. Quite a few things have changed, such as new buildings popping up, embassies moving elsewhere (I don't remember the Zambia Embassy being where it is now), and many others. But some surprises were also there, about things that remained the same. Like my old lunch restaurants and cafes. Checkpoint Charlie is still touristy.

Eventually, I reached Warschauer Strasse, after 18 kilometres. It was a fantastic hike, and while this was more of a city walk than a nature hike, I still had fun.

From there, I took the S-Bahn and headed home.