Lubbenau then Sachsenhausen.

Moved on to the Spreewald, a managed wetland area, and a well known tourist attraction in these parts. Managed to get on a boat tour of some of tour of some of the waterways. Very peaceful, with only the gentle splish of the punt, and the occasional quack of a duck, until we got to a busier waterway, with lots of kayaks and canoes. Many amazing dark blue dragonflies here, and waterlilies.

We visited the Freilandmuseum Lehde, a museum of rural life in the Spreewald, and showing the way of life of the gherkin and cucumber growers, which was unchanged for centuries, almost up to the 1970´s. There are still many islands inhabited but only accessible by the waterways. The is the only area in Germany where the postman delivers the letters by boat! 

Took a Canadian canoe out the next morning, and discovered some of the labyrinthine waterways for ourselves. Although we had a map, it was still quite tricky trying to decipher the "one way" , upstream, downstream, locks, rollers, and "no pleasure boats" signs.

Feeling we should do at least one Concentration camp site while we are in Germany, we made our way to Sachsenhausen, just north of Berlin, and the site of one of the earliest of the Nazi camps. Although some areas that were camp have been developed since the war, the sheer size of this one camp defies belief. Despite hundreds of toursts of all nationalities, there is an eerie sort of feeling about the place. A few of the original huts still remain, which house displays and information about the camp. We spent a short time in one hut, and found the heat opressive: what it must have been like with several hundred people sleeping in 3-tier bunks, pushed as close as possible together, must have been horrific. Of the 200,000 who came in to the camp, 3,000 were liberated in 1945 by Polish and Soviet soldiers.