Am Panke, Mitte Berlin

The German Secret Service (BND) building is an imposing presence; the surveillance cameras and bizarre, metallic palm trees help. This style of architecture- block form, plain facades, narrow inset windows framed by thick stone- is ubiquitous in the very new Berlin. A small strip of a park runs along the Panke- a small tributary of the Spree- beside the Secret Service.

To the left is a heating plant. The gas tanks are painted- Trompe l'oeil- to blend into a new apartment complex. Around the corner is a cafe that sells U.S. microbrews, and- I am told- the best coffee in the area. "The best beers are in North America, not Germany.  Germany has been sitting on its ass for the last 100 years," the proprietor says.  The coffee is unforgiving and astringent.

At the end of the park, the Panke narrows and can be crossed with a leap. A large mound is on the opposite side- constituted of what, one never knows in Berlin (debris from Park construction? from the war?). There are several paths to the top.

This irregular patch of land is one of Berlin's countless deserted lots- and this one is particularly strange, given the density of construction and the proximity of the BND.

The lot- which I believe is slated to be made into a park extension- was the site of military barracks in the early part of the 20th century.  The lot continues until it is blocked by construction at the Bundeswehrkrankenhaus- a complex that was built in the 1850s, and became a police hospital during the Nazi era.

Its very quiet here; this is one of my favourite spots in Mitte Berlin