This week we started by cruising to the Scharmutzelsee, a very big lake south east of Berlin and more famous for the spa town of Bad Saarow. We found a lovely free mooring at the entrance to the lake and stayed there the night before heading out onto the lake the next morning. The wind was blowing strongly up the lake and the waves getting bigger as we ventured further up the lake. We were hoping to tie up on the landing stage of a restaurant at the top end of the lake that looked like it was in a sheltered place. We couldn't find it anywhere and when we did eventually see it it was very exposed to the big waves and strong wind, so we headed back down the lake and luckily our free mooring was still available so we nipped in there and spend the rest of the day there. It had a supermarket nearby so we could get fresh food and bread.
We decided the next day to start back to Holland and go via Central Berlin. It was a lovely day as we made our way back through the interconnecting lakes to Schmockwitz where we had stayed just the week before. Then the next day, a beautiful day,
we cruised slowly once again through central Berlin soaking in all the lovely sights 
- the Dom, the Bode museum, the Reichstag, the hundreds of trip boats, 
the remnants of the WALL. We waved to our tramp as we motored past and he waved back. We wanted to stop at our favourite place in Berlin alongside Schloss Charlottenburg gardens. Unfortunately it was full when we got there, but Wendy spotted a yacht that might be leaving and sure enough it was soon and the space was just big enough for us, so we tied up and went for a long walk in the Schloss gardens.
We had a nice Italian meal by the Schloss that night.
For most of the week we had been enjoying the Olympic Games on satellite TV. I had found by chance some hidden 'streams' that BBC 1 Sport use and so we had 7 channels of Olympic games available with full expert commentary in English. It was (and is) marvellous. We managed to see the NZ golden Saturday triumphs in the rowing and viewing it with the BBC was great as there are no adverts and a really comprehensive coverage albeit UK orientated. Still ...
The following day was rainy but we decided to head over the Wannsee and tie up at Potsdam and spend the day watching the Olympics. Coming into Potsdam we got pulled over by the Wasserschutzpolizie and told we had gone too fast under a bridge. They fined us 15 euros and send us on our way. Unfortunately for some reason (probably the rain) we couldn't get those BBC streams at Potsdam though we could get all the German languauge Olympics. We stocked up with fresh food to last us the long trek across the North German Plains and the next morning headed along the Havel in lovely weather towards the Elbe. At Plauersee instead of turning off to the Elbe Havel Canal we decided to continue on the lovely River Havel for a few more days to a place called Rathenow as it has a post office we need to send a parcel off.
That brings us to the lovely lake we are now, sipping wine in the early evening sunshine, watching the moorhens and eagles. I shall fire up the BBQ tonight and cook some pork kebabs we bought in Potsdam and then watch the Olympic highlights.
