Hamburg is one of the greenest cities in the world (summertime). Not too far from the Stadtpark you'll find the Olsdorfer Friedhof, which is the largest "park cemetery" in Europe. If the Stadtpark is still too busy for you, despite it actually never is really, the cemetery is even quieter to find some rest and a refreshing walk. I know it sounds strange, but I mean it. :-)
In defense of Berlin's Tiergarten, it was originally a hunting preserve for deer (and Hasenheide was for rabbits), so it's big and intimidating. But there are still facilities in it that serve the neighboring residents. And throughout Berlin there are multiple volksparks, people's parks, which have everything the author mentions.
In most cities, parks evolve to serve the residents.
Tiergarten is surrounded by government buildings, embassies, malls, big wide roads and office skyscrapers. None are "living" spaces.
I love Tiergarten, but I see the surrounding being overrun by these as why it is so underrated/unknown. Otherwise an amazing place to cycle through, chill on the grass with friends or grab a beer in Café am Neuen See.
Berlin parks are difficult to beat! I lived half a decade at 2min from Treptower Park, my morning walk to the office, through the Soviet memorial, was so awesome. I’m now in Hamburg and while we have some nice parks I do miss the ones from Berlin
I am from Hamburg and I live about 6 minutes from the Stadtpark by foot. I walk my dog there pretty much every day and I am very grateful to live so close by. I spent two years living in Tokyo and although Tokyo also has its fair share of parks I feel the Stadtpark kind of outshines all of them. I like the authors focus on usability of the park. It really has so much to offer and it’s well maintained without looking sterile. They just repaved some of the sections with compacted gravel which feels very pleasant to walk on for me. I will say that on sunny weekends in summer there are sufficiently many careless people that litter and just throw their barbecue consumables wherever or place them next to the already overflowing trash bins instead of taking their trash with them, which is a little sad to see. But credits to the Müllabfuhr and park care takers for doing a really good job at cleaning it up afterwards. If you visit Hamburg I absolutely recommend going for an extended stroll there!
Moving from Manchester to Hamburg the difference in greenery is already pretty astounding, but Stadtpark is really the jewel. Wonderfully maintained, easy transport access and close enough to the centre that you can walk it without the dog getting exhausted, a few spots to get a beer or a schorle when needed. One of the highlights of the city.
Beautiful park indeed, though i wish it was closer to the city center (like Planten un Blomen). Also, the planetarium is fantastic, I went last year for a live modular-synth event, it was such a dream
Looks like a nice park! Was a bit odd of a read to me because the vast majority of the parks in my part the US are like this (sports fields, playgrounds, lakes, open green space, bike paths, grills, pavilions, etc), didn't realize I had taken that for granted.
I think it varies. "Park" can mean anything from basically wild forest to maintained green space and it may or may not include ammenities such as you listed.
Parc Lafontaine in Montreal is really great too. It has:
- a pond (ice-skating in the winter)
- outdoors theatre
- indoor theatre
- Petanque court
- Training bikepark for kids
- Playgrounds
- Tennis, Soccer, baseball
- So much trees and picnic spots, on the ground and tables
- A little non-profit restaurant
And just generally a good vibe. We really have a great park culture in the city, that's not even our best one. Other parks have regular circus and larping gatherings, tamtams and other hippy shit.
One of my favorite parks and much lesser knows is Westpark in Munich. Similarly built around usage and still unique since it was originally built for a national garden exhibition it features a rich set of small little areas from around the world, a Japanese party, a Chinese part, French areas, English areas. It has outdoor theaters, playgrounds, a lake, a communial area and much more . It’s worth a visit when you are in Munich
I got the same sense at Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna. Not so much the practical amenities but that it's still obvious that it was made for royalty going for strolls or looking for secluded shade areas. It's just a genuinely nice space & was more than a little jealous of the joggers that clearly use it for their daily run
I don't disagree but the great thing about Vienna is that, while Schlosspark Schönbrunn is amazing and puts most other city parks into shame, it's not at the top of nice parks in Vienna - there's also Prater, Wienerberg and especially Donauinsel.
Yes, Schlosspark is quite nice for jogging or walking. There are also two sandboxes for kids. However, you're not supposed to walk on most of the grass, so it's indeed mostly a park to look at, but not a park to be used.
> What stayed with me was not the swimming. It was that none of it looked planned. She was not spending her afternoon at the lake, she was just going through her day, and the lake happened to be part of it.
Fascinating phenomenon, but this sentence caused me to stop reading and close the tab.
"Slop", I thought.
Now I think about it, I'm not even sure I can put my finger on what about that sentence came across as AI slop.
Hmm, you might be right about that paragraph. I am very sensitive to LLM smells, but I missed this one, probably because the rest of the essay seems handwritten.
Of course, one can never be sure. Many writers are picking up on this style, too, so it could have organic origins.
I feel like this is one of the most damaging parts of the slop problem. Occasionally the slopisms fit into real writing. Sometimes people do just write like this, and we are losing a sense of reality because we keep being tripped up by this nagging little voice
Hamburg is one of the greenest cities in the world (summertime). Not too far from the Stadtpark you'll find the Olsdorfer Friedhof, which is the largest "park cemetery" in Europe. If the Stadtpark is still too busy for you, despite it actually never is really, the cemetery is even quieter to find some rest and a refreshing walk. I know it sounds strange, but I mean it. :-)
It's in the name: stadtpark, city park.
In defense of Berlin's Tiergarten, it was originally a hunting preserve for deer (and Hasenheide was for rabbits), so it's big and intimidating. But there are still facilities in it that serve the neighboring residents. And throughout Berlin there are multiple volksparks, people's parks, which have everything the author mentions.
In most cities, parks evolve to serve the residents.
Tiergarten is surrounded by government buildings, embassies, malls, big wide roads and office skyscrapers. None are "living" spaces.
I love Tiergarten, but I see the surrounding being overrun by these as why it is so underrated/unknown. Otherwise an amazing place to cycle through, chill on the grass with friends or grab a beer in Café am Neuen See.
Berlin parks are difficult to beat! I lived half a decade at 2min from Treptower Park, my morning walk to the office, through the Soviet memorial, was so awesome. I’m now in Hamburg and while we have some nice parks I do miss the ones from Berlin
This was such a nice read about a park I had never heard of. Thank you for writing it (and for actually writing it yourself instead of vibing it).
And for putting the inevitable subscribe-for-more form inline at the end of the article, rather than in a popup.
I am from Hamburg and I live about 6 minutes from the Stadtpark by foot. I walk my dog there pretty much every day and I am very grateful to live so close by. I spent two years living in Tokyo and although Tokyo also has its fair share of parks I feel the Stadtpark kind of outshines all of them. I like the authors focus on usability of the park. It really has so much to offer and it’s well maintained without looking sterile. They just repaved some of the sections with compacted gravel which feels very pleasant to walk on for me. I will say that on sunny weekends in summer there are sufficiently many careless people that litter and just throw their barbecue consumables wherever or place them next to the already overflowing trash bins instead of taking their trash with them, which is a little sad to see. But credits to the Müllabfuhr and park care takers for doing a really good job at cleaning it up afterwards. If you visit Hamburg I absolutely recommend going for an extended stroll there!
Moving from Manchester to Hamburg the difference in greenery is already pretty astounding, but Stadtpark is really the jewel. Wonderfully maintained, easy transport access and close enough to the centre that you can walk it without the dog getting exhausted, a few spots to get a beer or a schorle when needed. One of the highlights of the city.
Beautiful park indeed, though i wish it was closer to the city center (like Planten un Blomen). Also, the planetarium is fantastic, I went last year for a live modular-synth event, it was such a dream
Hamburg has a lot going for it, it's just a shame the locals are so cold, unfriendly and boring.
Looks like a nice park! Was a bit odd of a read to me because the vast majority of the parks in my part the US are like this (sports fields, playgrounds, lakes, open green space, bike paths, grills, pavilions, etc), didn't realize I had taken that for granted.
I think it varies. "Park" can mean anything from basically wild forest to maintained green space and it may or may not include ammenities such as you listed.
Sure. "State" and "National" parks mean something different than most city or county parks, which tend to be more amenity focused.
Parc Lafontaine in Montreal is really great too. It has:
- a pond (ice-skating in the winter)
- outdoors theatre
- indoor theatre
- Petanque court
- Training bikepark for kids
- Playgrounds
- Tennis, Soccer, baseball
- So much trees and picnic spots, on the ground and tables
- A little non-profit restaurant
And just generally a good vibe. We really have a great park culture in the city, that's not even our best one. Other parks have regular circus and larping gatherings, tamtams and other hippy shit.
One of my favorite parks and much lesser knows is Westpark in Munich. Similarly built around usage and still unique since it was originally built for a national garden exhibition it features a rich set of small little areas from around the world, a Japanese party, a Chinese part, French areas, English areas. It has outdoor theaters, playgrounds, a lake, a communial area and much more . It’s worth a visit when you are in Munich
Thanks for sharing!
Refreshing read, handcrafted
I got the same sense at Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna. Not so much the practical amenities but that it's still obvious that it was made for royalty going for strolls or looking for secluded shade areas. It's just a genuinely nice space & was more than a little jealous of the joggers that clearly use it for their daily run
I don't disagree but the great thing about Vienna is that, while Schlosspark Schönbrunn is amazing and puts most other city parks into shame, it's not at the top of nice parks in Vienna - there's also Prater, Wienerberg and especially Donauinsel.
Yes, Schlosspark is quite nice for jogging or walking. There are also two sandboxes for kids. However, you're not supposed to walk on most of the grass, so it's indeed mostly a park to look at, but not a park to be used.
> What stayed with me was not the swimming. It was that none of it looked planned. She was not spending her afternoon at the lake, she was just going through her day, and the lake happened to be part of it.
Fascinating phenomenon, but this sentence caused me to stop reading and close the tab.
"Slop", I thought.
Now I think about it, I'm not even sure I can put my finger on what about that sentence came across as AI slop.
Hmm, you might be right about that paragraph. I am very sensitive to LLM smells, but I missed this one, probably because the rest of the essay seems handwritten.
Of course, one can never be sure. Many writers are picking up on this style, too, so it could have organic origins.
I feel like this is one of the most damaging parts of the slop problem. Occasionally the slopisms fit into real writing. Sometimes people do just write like this, and we are losing a sense of reality because we keep being tripped up by this nagging little voice
It's the "it's not X. It's Y" pattern isn't it?
Although the verb "stayed with me" seems a little sloppy to me too.
Socialists claim rare victory not in France.