Ich Bin Ein Runner

[an error occurred while processing this directive]For the fitness-minded resident or traveler, Berlin's Tiergarten park offers one of the great runs in Europe. The park — 3 km long from the Brandenburg Gate to the Charlottenburg Gate and 1 km wide — was opened to the public by Frederick the Great in the 18th century. A leafy refuge, it's hard to imagine that by the winter of 1945, Allied bombing and Berliners foraging for firewood had thinned out the park's 200,000 trees to 700.

A group of running enthusiasts known as the RBB Laufbewegung (www.rbb-laufbewegung.de.) sponsors a 5-km run Saturdays beginning at 2 p.m.; it's free, open to all and attended by hundreds of Berliners of all ages, shapes and sizes. There are three courses for 30-minute, 60-minute and 90-minute runs that all begin at the victory column, or Siegessäule. It's ideal for those staying over on a Saturday night; the park and its running paths are just a few minutes from the Hotel Adlon and other hotels near the intersection of Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse.