Thwarted

I had mixed fortunes today. First I hired a nearby e-bike, and headed off in the direction of Schöneweide locomotive depot (thanks for the tip Magi), with the aim of taking a lot of Turf zones on the way. This took me through some interesting places: a couple of vast cemeteries, some lovely paths beside waterways and through woodlands, the extensive "colonies" of summer huts and allotments , but also some city streets where I'm still not 100% sure of all the regulations. 

After a very fast and easy final section of cycling, on smooth tarmac next to a river, I crossed some flat low-lying meadows and arrived at the locomotive depot. I don't get excited about diesel or electric locomotives, but there were four good sized steam locos, two if which were moving. 

After that I headed off to Union Berlin's ground, only to be one of about 50 people being told that we couldn't get in with resale tickets. The guy doing so was wrong in claiming that you can't get into a German ground with a resale ticket - as I've got into the Olympic stadium that way to see Hertha Berlin play a league game. That it was an away ticket probably made it more unacceptable. However, he was at least 1.90m and 120kg, so no-one argued. When a calm young woman reiterated the point after looking at my "ticket" I gave up and walked off. 

It was a shame, as the atmosphere sounded good, partly because Union Berlin were 2-0 up after 5 minutes. That said, it's good if they have systems to prevent tourists diluting the support. I took a Turf zone and returned to the centre of Berlin.

When my 2-hour travel ticket expired, I got off and ate where I was, and then just wandered across the centre of Berlin, and though the Tiergarten - which, by then, was beautifully lit by the low sun (see extra). I then got an U-bahn back to my apartment.