In the borough of Spandau we had originally traveled there to go the beach, but upon arrival from the subway there was no sign of water anywhere around us. There was a courthouse on one side of the station and a park on the other. A large building that said arcade was behind it. Eventually we got on a bus and ended up in what looked like the suburbs. There were trees and greenery everywhere. Large white houses sat behind fences and hedges. Most of the inhabitants were either elderly or parents with children. We also saw some very large buildings that indicated a house in every way, except for their immense size. Trusting a map on someone’s phone, we trudged into the forest on a dirt path. Passing more beautiful houses and a large Jewish cemetery, it seemed to take forever to get to water because we were walking in the forest for so long. Finally, when we reached the water it was lined with tall grasses and trees. An old skinny dock stretched out into the lake, and next to it was a German restaurant on a boat. We ate outside on the dock next to the boat, while the wind tried to blow away our napkins. I ate pork, green beans, and potatoes. A swan and her six babies swam by and we watched her chicks get tossed by the windswept waves while they struggled to stay close to their mother. After lunch, half the group decided to turn back while the other half were determined to find a beach because it had taken us hours to get trek there. We walked through more forest, rode another bus, saw more old people, and young mothers with infants. One quirky feature I did not appreciate were the stumps and trees adorned with bottle caps and chunks of wood to mimic the human face. What I hope was meant to be whimsical seemed very creepy. I passed many a stump with bottle caps nailed into it to represent eyes above a knotted nose. One of the trees had two faces, each one looking down either side of the trail. At the water’s edge, there was a small sandy outcrop where owners were playing with their dogs. We sat nearby and tossed a Frisbee back and forth in the wind. It was probably sixty degrees out so the water was freezing. Kayaks, yachts, and sailboats passed by with passengers who stared at us, expressionless, snug in their windbreakers and sweaters. One of the weirdest sights was a kayak that passed us, the first person propelling them forward, while the larger man sat behind in a button down shirt, talking on his cell phone as though he were in an office. The houses we had seen were much nicer compared to the homes in other boroughs. It felt very suburban and the people were much more comfortable staring at us. As far as I could see no one else ever got into the water, but us and the dogs, which were almost always without leashes. Everything was very quiet, even in the lake both the people and their boats were silent. At lunch we were the loudest because we were the only ones who emitted any laughter.