"pick-nick"

Tonight I went to a picnic. Why didn't I bring my camera? It was dumb. I didn't know how nice it would be. You go behind the Bahnhof (train station) and through the neighborhood called Gundeli to Margarethenpark. There's a open green space surrounded by trees, and a playground and fountain on your right, and a path leading uphill. You go up, and keep going up, to the left, and all of a sudden you find yourself in the middle of fields of grass, and cultivated strawberries, and you're above the town and isolated from it by trees, and something else, like quiet.

In the group the following countries were represented: France, Brazil, Turkey, Spain, Germany, Colombia, and the US, of course. A generous mix of French, German, Spanish and English was spoken, and many delicious French cheeses were eaten. I even tried some hard salami made out of duck. I know. Since it is light so late, we didn't even meet until 8; we stayed in the field until 10:30, and it was only just getting too dark and cold to be out in the grass. Then another two hours were spent at the hostess' house, where some neighbor Argentinians joined the group. The South American contingent sang us songs and played skilled guitar while the rest of us drank red wine in admiration for their talents. What an international city I live in.

In other news, the river seems to have quieted down, and the weather has certainly heated up, so there may be some river-swimming in my future. We'll see.

To avoid a photo-less post I'm including this poppy from the botanical garden. A present for you.