This is Schlachtensee Station.

This is the S1 line toward Oranienburg. The Next Station is Mexikoplatz heading toward Oranienburg Station.
This is the S1 line toward Wannsee. The Next Station is Nikolassee heading toward Wannsee Station.

If you walk a few blocks to the south, you can get to Studentendorf Schlachtensee

Just north of the Station is a small Biergarten, but most importantly is access to the lake. However, before we get to the lake, we need to stop at the Market just south of the station and pick up a case of beer and snacks. Because it's picnic time at Schlachtensee. Once you have the necessary supplies, it's time to take your beer back to the lake and let it sit in the water so it stays cold. Did I just say, drinking and swimming? Indeed, most people do that. Some people even rent boats there and then paddle around while drinking. It's a gorgeous place and lots of people come out there during the summer. The water is always cool and during the worst of the heat, it's most definitely the place to go. That or Krumme Lanke. Wannsee is way too cold to go swimming in most of the time, unless it's the heat of summer.

Tons of people won't even get in the water, they just come to picnic and sunbathe to try to tan themselves. It's pretty funny actually.

First Experience:

Personally we did a lot of swimming and drinking at the lake, however, one time, some people brought someone who couldn't swim very well. I had to play lifeguard and bring them back. They nearly drowned, and fought and fought and fought against me as I tried to keep him above water. Moron.

Another:

I'd never been to a place or country where people didn't care about nudity. Well boy did I get a shocker when I first arrived there. People just changed. SOMETIMES, they might use a towel when they changed their lower halves, but honestly, not so much. It was just, strip, change into swimming clothes, jump in. I mean, it kind of makes sense, right? What the hell does a bathing suit cover anyways? Over time this made me a lot less worried about the taboo of being naked myself. Toward the end, I'd pretty much forget that it made a difference at home, and this would get me into trouble later when I got home, but that's another story.

Another:

Once we found a log, a huge log. It was about 6 feet long by a foot and a half wide. We tossed it into the water and used it as a boat. We'd get a bunch of people to sit on it, and we'd paddle around. And then we'd come into view of people who were blocked by trees and they'd just see us 'sitting' in the water and they were very confused. Often small paddle boats would come up to us and offer us beers to find out what was going on. Oh and that's another thing, the boats? They'd have their beers in a floating thing, tied to their boat, so they'd stay cold.

Near Drowning Two

So one of my friends decided he could keep up with myself and my buddy Tyler who constantly just swam across the width of the lake. We'd just get bored and want to do it and then go exploring on the other side. However, this one friend decided he could do it. So I went out with him, just cause, I'd never seen him swim before really. I'd only see him get drunk and be stupid in Hot tubs.

So just after the halfway point, he starts getting very tired because he has no stamina for this. So On the fly, while doing the breaststroke, and I have to instruct him quickly on various ways to swim which will take less energy. And then I guided him to the other side of the lake because he was too proud to be carried in by a trained swimmer. Whatever. Anyways, I managed to get him over there and when we touched down, the ground wasn't dirt, but instead, a layer of plants. That was weird for me. Seriously weird. But I got over it, because he needed to rest and catch his breath and loosen a cramp. So we hung out there for awhile.

And that's when it effing happened. Imagine, your hand is under water, touching something slimy. That's pretty fine, I mean, you'd probably prefer it wasn't and you can just take your hand out of the water, no big deal. Now imagine the water is pretty opaque and you can't see down past a half meter or so. Fine, no big deal, you can still just easily bring your hand out and it'll all be fine. Wait, now imagine a friend of yours sneaks up and taps your hand underwater while it's touching something slimy. Sure whatever, you can pull your hand up and check real quick, still not that bad, I mean it could be worse right?

AND IT WAS WORSE. There I was minding my own damn business, standing on gross slimy plants waiting for my too proud friend to start feeling better, when all of a sudden, while in about 1.5 meters of water.... I FEEL IT..

SOMETHING
TAPS AND FLUTTERS
AT
MY FOOT

I'd just asked him if he was ready to go back, when suddenly I surged forward off the bottom of the lake, and said, "WTF was that! I'm leaving now you can come along or stay, but SOMETHING JUST TOUCHED ME!"

No, I'd never swam in a fresh water lake prior to my experiences in Berlin. I'd either been in the Ocean or Pools.

Hope you enjoyed yourself. I sure as hell didn't that day.

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