I first heard about the existence of the real Berlin bears when reading a blog post by Ian and Ebe, and I was amazed. This kind of thing existed? Bears, just hanging out, in the middle of the city?
I get it, bears are the city mascot, but naturally, I had to see for myself…although it took me some time to get in gear and head down there. But yesterday was a mild Spring day and I didn’t have any obligations, so I opted to walk down to the Bärenzwinger in Köllnischer Park, hoping to catch a glimpse of Schnute and Maxi.
When I arrived, there were a few people in the park, although only one or two other people were by the bears. It was a slow day, however, with the bears coming out one at a time, wandering a bit, and then heading back inside, but altogether, I hung out for about 30 minutes and saw both bears make appearances. Admittedly it’s not the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen, but definitely another one of those quirky spots that make Berlin such a wonderfully unique city.