Lake Lietzensee

Lake Lietzensee is smack in the middle of Berlin. In Charlottenburg, to be precise. 

Lake Lietzensee and its surrounding park is one of my favorite Berlin green spaces - next to Tiergarten - because walking through it is like walking through a hybrid of Miss Havisham's backyard and the lavishly landscaped park Delphine Seyrig jaunts along in L'annee derniere a Marienbad ...

... however, where Tiergarten feels like a forest, Lake Lietzensee really does feel like a proper park, and come to think of it - it is one of the rare green spaces in central Berlin that give you that feeling as more often than not, there's no landscaping to speak of at all in Berlin parks and so the word park is actually a misnomer.

Being a great deal smaller than Tiergarten, Lake Lietzensee has the added advantage of having virtually no tourists as they don't usually venture to this part of town. They have no idea what they're missing! For Charlottenburg is not only the district with the most magnificent period buildings - and that is especially true for the area around Lake Lietzensee! - it is also one of Berlin's most affluent. As a result, the variety of shops, bars, and cafes can easily hold a candle to Kreuzberg, Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg.

Here's Lake Lietzensee & some of the beautiful buildings that surround it (please click on each image for the gallery to open):