In the pine woods just outside Bernau, north of Berlin, a cluster of yellow brick buildings steps down a gentle slope toward a lake, and it is one of the purest expressions of Bauhaus architecture anywhere. The Federal School of the General German Trade Union Federation, known by its German initials ADGB, was designed by Hannes Meyer, the second director of the Bauhaus, with Hans Wittwer, and built between 1928 and 1930 as a training college for union officials. Every detail, from the arrangement of the dormitory wings in staggered blocks to the glass corridor that runs down the slope, was designed to encourage community, light and a healthy life. It was added to the UNESCO Bauhaus site in 2017.
The school had a short life in its original use. In 1933 the Nazis seized the trade unions and took over the buildings, using them for their own training purposes, and after the war it became a school for the East German unions. After German reunification, it fell into disrepair, but it has been carefully restored and now serves as a training centre, with guided tours offered on certain days. The visitor centre explains the history and the ideas behind the architecture.
The riding around Bernau is pleasant but unspectacular, with flat roads through pine forests, lakes and villages of the Barnim region. The Schorfheide-Chorin biosphere reserve to the north is a large area of forests, lakes and wetlands, with quiet roads and the Gothic ruins of Chorin Abbey, and the Grumsin beech forest, another UNESCO site, is nearby. Traffic around Berlin can be heavy, but once you are out in the countryside, the roads are quiet and well surfaced, though cobbled stretches and tree-lined avenues are common in Brandenburg, and the trees can be unforgiving.
Bernau, about four kilometres away, has fuel, shops and restaurants, and a medieval town wall that is one of the best preserved in the region. Local food includes Brandenburg classics like potato soup, fish from the lakes and the gherkins of the Spreewald, further south. Lake Liepnitz, near Wandlitz, has clear water and is a popular spot for swimming in summer.