Canals and waterways, pleasure palaces and campsites, white storks and sour pickles, empty villages, millionaires, and a laid-back state capital: Potsdam author Antje Rávic Strubel delves into the clichés and truths about Brandenburg. An ideal destination for excursions. After years in New York and Berlin, Antje Rávic Strubel has returned to her hometown of Potsdam. In her cheerful yet critical homage, she narrates life between Lusatia and Stechlin, between Schorfheide, Sanssouci, and Spreewald, Havelland, and Hoher Fläming. She writes about lakes and marshes, wolves and the "Markish Amazon." About the traces of Brecht, Kleist, and Fontane, as well as the influence of Dutch architects. The triumphant rise of sea buckthorn and the myth of Beelitz asparagus. About luxury villas by the lake or the question of who really owns the shore. About everyday life in the artist district of Babelsberg. About tropical islands and more.