Friedhofstour

Perhaps I'll run out of arbitrary destinations to bike to, but certainly not anytime soon. This weekend the theme was  cemeteries. Though I walk through the one by my apartment on a regular basis I have not done more than bike by the other cemeteries in the city. I set out to change that, starting with the Ostfriedhof. 

Initially I went around into a maintenance yard but eventually found my way into the cemetery proper. This cemetery is much larger and more park like than the Alter Südfriedhof by me.

The other big difference is that it is still in use, meaning that the people buried here have living relatives who come and tend the gravesites. There were plenty of people (mostly older) out doing just that. To aid them most of the path junctions included racks of communal watering cans.

There were some non traditional grave markers including this one which caught my eye.

After making a loop I retrieved my bike and headed onwards to the new southern cemetery, Neuer Südfriedhof. This cemetery was even larger and more park like including a large pond full of geese.

The grave plots here are separated by hedge rows into sections of perhaps 50. I couldn't discern any commonality connecting the graves in a section.

Continuing with the park like nature this cemetery had a number of bird houses. Unlike the wooden ones I helped build in Boy Scouts these appeared to be made of cement.

This was another unique grave marker that caught my eye.

The last cemetery on my route was the Friedhof am Perlacher Forst just across the freeway and some train tracks. This one felt a bit older and mostly had more traditional grave markers. It was getting towards lunchtime at this point so I only walked through one wing of the cemetery before heading home.