Grand Tour de Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel Stage 8/59 – Firework Leftovers / Ode to Nadja

The first stage of the Grand Tour de Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel in 2020 was to take me to parts of Berlin that I’d never been to before. Being based in Charlottenburg, it is rare for me to head out towards the Niederschöneweide and Altglienicke districts of Berlin. Exploring these areas is one of the motivating reasons to complete this Grand Tour so I was looking forward to the Stage. Since this Stage took place not long after the new year celebrations in Berlin, there were still loads of leftovers from all the fireworks that people set off. The bridges in particular were firework hotspots! 

The weather was typical of Berlin in winter – oppressive grey is the term, I believe. But it wasn’t forecast to rain and with a maximum temperature of 5°C this was positively balmy – so I headed out for the Stage. I headed out towards S-Bahnhof Hermannstraße for the starting point of the shortest S-Bahn route in Berlin, the S47. On the way there, I passed by the Berlin office that hands out vehicle registration plates and after being amazed at the density of stalls offering services related to car / plate registrations, there was the most amazing graffiti proclaiming love for Nadja! 

The S47 route offered up some interesting titbits including a bridge that was also a tunnel, an Einhornstraße (Unicorn Street) and a train crossing. As I was weighing up photo opportunities, I got to see an S47 train heading in the direction I just came from. I decided to have a coffee stop around the Spindlersfeld train station and found a nice little bakery where I could sit inside and warm my feet up before heading towards the Schöneweide train station for the 160 bus route.

By the time I got to the start of the 160 bus route, it had started to drizzle and continued to drizzle right till the end of the bus route in Altglienicke (about an hour). This bus route passes through the Johannisthal and Adlershof districts where there were lots of residential and industrial plots. I passed over the Wegedornbrücke and managed to get clobbered in the ear by a pedestrian who at just when I was passing their group (in the bike lane) demonstrated how wide something was (I imagine). At least she yelled out an apology.

I didn’t map the next section of the 160 bus route correctly as I had to pass through some very narrow streets and traverse a construction site. I rejoined the 160 route on the Bohnsdorfer Weg which is at the top of little incline where the Grundschule am Berg (primary school at the mountain) is found. Mountain is an exaggeration but in true Berlin style any incline gets labelled as a mountain (Berg).

The final section of the 160 route through Altglienicke passes through many housing areas that were reminding me of where I grew up in Rochdale. I also crossed through the town of Schönefeld for about 50 m before being straight back in Berlin. The 160 route ends at Siriusstraße where there are many residential blocks facing the A113 Autobahn. 

A very well paved part of the Berliner Mauerweg (Berlin Wall path) passes next to the Autobahn and I passed on it when heading towards Kranoldstraße in Neukölln for the next bus route – the 344. I used this to pass through as many new streets as possible – including the Murugan Hindu Temple – for my wandrer.earth profile. 

The 344 bus route starts at Kranoldstraße and passes on Hermannstraße until terminating at U-Bahnhof Hermannplatz. In between paying attention to the traffic, since Hermannstraße doesn’t have a dedicated bike lane, I noticed that there were no signs that a 344 bus stopped at any bus stop. Once I got back home, I confirmed that indeed this bus route has been discontinued. Oh well, I’m sure it won’t be the last time that I travel on a route that has since changed or been discontinued.

I was very happy with my blood glucose management throughout this stage. I reduced my basal insulin and the breakfast bolus injection too. I ate one of the latest batch of my homemade energy bars during my coffee break at Spindlersfeld. I was getting really hungry on the way towards Kranoldstraße so I stopped at a bus stop and ate a Clif Bar. Both times, these energy bars kept my blood glucose within range so that was all round good management!