I had to do something to cheer myself up. I could not have the trip of a lifetime, or the part of it spent in m favourite city so far, ruined by a mere bad mood. I wasn´t sure where to go. When I had just arrived I´d vowed to go to Grunewald or the Wannsee, but that was when it was still warm amd sunny. There were a number of museums I still wanted to see, especially the Hamburger Bahnhof (the museum of contemporary art), and the Botanical Garden sounded very attractive as well. I resolved to play a little game, and let fate decide where I would go. It started in the U-Bahn station Samariterstraße. I would take the first train that arrived there. If it was one going west, I would stay on until Alexanderplatz (the last stop); if it was going east, I would take it until the next stop, Frankfurter Allee, which is situated on the "Ring", the S-Bahn line going all around the city. From Alexanderplatz, I could´ve taken the S7 to Grunewald, or any other train to Lehrter Bahnhof (for Hamburger Bahnhof) and continue to Grunewald later. But the first train went east. From Frankfurter Allee, if the first train was going north I would take that until Westkreuz and change there for Grunewald, and if it was south (which it was, but only by a few seconds), I would take it until a station I forgot the name of (Schöneberg?), change there for Botanischer Garten, and continue to Wannsee later.

Fate brought me to the botanical garden, and as it turned out fate made an excellent choice. Being amidst all these flowers and trees and birds made me happy almost instantly. I stayed there for 2 hours (though I could easily have spent the entire day there, but I really wanted to go to the Wannsee as well). It is huge - I didn´t even see half of it. I will certainly return later, whenever I am in Berlin and in need of cheering up.

I´d expected the shores of the Wannsee to be all sandy, but the part I ended up at was actually forested, and ideal for a solitary walk. Again, fate had guided me well.