Plane window gazing

I flew to New York City two years ago to visit my brother, who was living there with his family at the time. It was a great trip. I checked out High Line park for the first time; I reconnected with a friend from my ultimate frisbee playing lifestyle; and I spent quality time with my brother and his family. 

Somewhere over the High Plains, Winter 2010.

This image was shot with of a plane window. Why did I shoot this? Fascination with temperature and elevation; and agriculture. And, obviously, fascination with drainage patterns. 

• Drainage patterns: there are valleys forming, slowly, on top of this mesa. That's cool to think of in itself. The topography here is enhanced by the rising sun.
• Agriculture: note the circles in the upper/left portion of the frame. Anyone who's flown over the western United States has hopefully observed these. These are created from enormous sprinklers that rotate around a central point and are depleting the Ogallala aquifer. Can anyone answer the question of what is done with the corners -- the spaces between the circles -- that don't get irrigated? I'm actually very curious. Someone has done the math that pivoting sprinklers maximize the use of land.
  The limiting factor in the productivity equation is clearly water; I'm assuming most of these unwatered corners are left unused, or planted with an aggressive plant that holds the soil and won't invade the crop areas, or is easily managed with an herbicide that's broadcast via the irrigation system.
• Temperature and elevation: snow can afford to remain only where temperatures remain cool enough. This mesa is right on that threshold, at the time this photo was taken. Maybe the snow fell the night before -- and this is the first daylight the snow has seen...
• And finally, slope effect has allowed some surfaces to remain warm enough to prohibit lasting snow. Since this is in the northern hemisphere, surfaces that face west or south are warmer -- they receive more sunlight throughout any given day of the year. (This photo is not very illustrative of this concept, so I'm putting myself to task to post about this in the future with a better shot).

These are just a few things to think about when gazing out the plane window next time you fly. You've paid for the view -- now take advantage of it! 

Rails to Trails, Berlin Style

I'm so glad that I picked up the book 111 Orte in Berlin die Man Gesehen Haben Muss, ("111 Must-See Places in Berlin").  Earlier this summer, I had arrived in Berlin after a ten-day trip to Russia with family, to visit the old land of East Prussia. I was saturated with new information, geography, history, language, and personalities. It had been a full 10 days prior, and 10 days prior to that as well -- that I had spent with family in Switzerland and Germany.

All in all, it was a trip of a lifetime. I've only begun to write about it, but owe it to myself to write down the details before they slip away. Thank goodness photos are here to help with that, but they only help extend the memory of what they capture.

So what does one do with only four days in Berlin? It's a great problem to have: being in a foreign place with not enough time to absorb the amazing history of it. It's helpful to have a limiting factor or two. My chief limiting factors were: I didn't want to spend a ton of money,  and I had already been to a few locations on a prior visit in 2001. I was also motivated to use the train and bus system as much as possible, since I'd bought a 72-hour unlimited use pass. Plus, I always feel more authentically immersed, and less like a tourist, on local public transit.

I also traveled alone, so if I ended up lost or going somewhere not-so-worthwhile, I only had myself to disappoint, and a only myself to blame; that allowed me more freedom of choice.

As I stood in the Berlin bookstore on my first day, trying to plan the forthcoming days, rather than going with a Lonely Planet, or Frommer's, or the like, which are all different yet exactly the same, I selected the book I mentioned above, written only in German by a local.

Der Naturpark Südgelände is reachable by a combination of a few S-Bahn and U-Bahn (surface and underground) subway trains.I was a bit concerned that when I got off the train, I would be on my own finding the park -- but the sign below was a welcome sight, and got me there before I even had to consult a map. (Notice the large "Natur-Park" sign.)

Clear Signage at Haltestelle Priesterweg, August 2012.

Naturpark Südgelände is an old rail yard that has been allowed to become overgrown with vegetation. Trails have been made through parts of it, but other parts are strictly maintained as sanctuaries. I can't do it enough justice in today's post -- I have yet to translate the many interpretive signs that I shot photos of -- but I know that Naturpark Südgelände hosts many imperiled species in an otherwise urban/industrial area. And I know that the City of Berlin probably had other options rather than making it a park. 

So today Naturpark Südgelände stands to show nature's ability to overcome human constraint. This was one of three striking examples of this phenomenon that I observed on my Euro journey. Because of politics, wars, and border changes, examples of this are all over Europe. The other two I became intimately familiar with (Wiepenheide and Rauschen) are still in my memory bank.

Der Naturpark Südgelände, August 2012.