My alarm woke me at 7 which is unheard of—I always wake
early and almost always before any alarm I set but not today! I needed the
sleep and got a solid 8. I woke once and fell right back to sleep. Perfect way
to start the day! I got up, made up a sandwich to eat later as I wasn’t hungry,
got ready and went downstairs to print my ticket for the palace.
I decided to do a day trip, as I often try to do on city
trips, to Potsdam. A woman I was recently introduced to originally from Berlin
recommended the visit and I’m glad she did! She was born in Berlin and was
baptized by a local pastor who did so to save her, and many other Jews from
death during WWII. Somehow her parents escaped their fate as well, and they
emigrated to the US after the war. She hated Berlin and Germany for much of her
life, but found peace with it and forgiveness when she returned for her
mother’s funeral. It has been amazing getting to know her.
I printed my ticket and double-checked the directions I got
last night as I was told that the subway line was re-routed and that my map is
old. Sure enough, she said the same which was a good thing. I changed lined in
Potsdamer Platz, an area I’m contemplating exploring tomorrow. I took the
u-Bahn to an S-Bahn train, and interestingly went above-ground and left the
underground subway area to go back underground to the S-Bahn. The area is very
busy and I was told has good shopping and an art gallery/museum worth seeing.
The trip took around an hour in total. On the train I met a
lovely woman and her two kids. I met them as I was laughing at her five-year
old son who kept putting his stuffed animal on his head and was making faces at
his older sister. A mother’s scolding sounds the same in every language. Her daughter then came
over and sat next to me talking in rapid-fire German. I had no idea what she
was saying. I said in German that I don’t speak very good German and she asked
if I spoke English or French. Bingo!
Her English was very good, though as always, she said that
it wasn’t. I find that even what someone believes is poor English is excellent
and very understandable, and way better than my German! She told me her
daughter was saying that I look like a woman on a tv show that she watches, and
she thinks I’m very pretty. Aww… so cute! I took pictures of them as well as a
young toddler who entertained the train. It was the woman’s birthday so I
wished her a wonderful day. We bonded over the fact that she is 43 today, and I
will be in a couple of months. It was my first meeting with a local Berliner,
two days into my trip. It definitely feels more eastern European to me and
people are much more aloof, but friendly when you take the time to meet them
(and they are interested, of course.) She shook my hand warmly to say goodbye,
then her son copied her. It was adorable.
I arrived in Potsdam and went to the information booth to
find out how to get to the palace. I had found quite a few places to visit, so
when the man suggested a bus tour I jumped on it. That, and after walking for a
lot of hours for close to a week, I could use a restful day. Unfortunately
there were high plastic windows around the bus so my pictures aren’t very good,
but we got a great education about the city, the people, and the history. The
tour was two-and-a-half hours, and had several stops.
We first saw the church where Hitler took power. Then we saw
a Mosque by the river, which turned out to not be a mosque at all but a water
pumping station in disguise! The guide shared that there are quite a few things
in the city made to look like fantasy—including several pyramids and obelisks
covered in hieroglyphics that are actually not hieroglyphics at all but made to
look like it. Interesting.
We drove by Louisenplatz, the city Square. She was a
Prussian Queen who died at age 30 after ten children. Her husband was known to
be cowardly, so she actually ruled. She negotiated with Napoleon who said she
was the only man in Prussia, as a compliment. We passed skyscrapers built in
the 70s, and then some buildings that all looked rather similar. Apparently the
architect designed a building for the king that had one floor and five windows
across. The king then took the plans and built 400 more!
There are several gates around the city that remain from
part of the original city walls. There is a Dutch quarter also called ‘Little
Amsterdam’. The king built this area to attract dutch craftsmen to help build.
Potsdam is on an island, so much of it was built similarly to Venice (and
Amsterdam), with wood poles driven deep into the ground to stabilize the city,
and apparently only the Dutch were believed to know this construction. We
passed a town canal that had been filled with rubble from WWII though there are
plans to clean it out. We saw a grocery store on the water, designed so boats
can pull up to get food.
We crossed a bridge that was closed during the Cold War, and
a marking line is showing on it to show where the wall ran through dividing the
city. Most was part of the Russian quarter and was closed off to the rest of
the world.
Originally Potsdam was build as the summer residence for
royalty and the wealthy. We drove to Cecelienhof Palace built for the crown
price and his wife, Cecelia. The Potsdam conference of world powers to oust
Hitler was held here. One of the buildings on the road to this palace was where
the KGB headquarters were later. In the center courtyard of the palace is a
small garden with a large red star. Stalin had it designed prior to the
conference to make a statement, and apparently it caused the reaction he
desired. The king lived here until WWI, when he had to leave when the royal
house was overthrown. His son moved in following the war until 1945 when the
Russians took over the area. It’s now a hotel and conference center.
There is a Siberian colony in the area, with several very
ornately decorated wood buildings with very detailed carvings all around. The
buildings are actually brick with a wood façade, designed so to attract the
Siberians and perhaps to remind them of home.
Potsdam is the site of Sans Souci, without
care/without worry, design as a place of relation and not a seat of power. It’s on top of a hill and yellow. Interestingly it does look very
French in design, and I was told that it was inspired by Versailles. The
gardens are beautiful and large. Apparently there is a law now that no building
may be higher in the town (that wasn’t already built). I had tickets for a tour
later in the day. Frederick the Great lived here ‘without a care.’ His life and
rule was marked with war, so this place was his solace. He was a philosopher
and loved the arts. Apparently he didn’t care for his family, and wanted a
simple grave flocked by those he loved: not his family, but his 12 dogs! There
were roses and potatoes on his grave. Apparently during the wars around 1800,
he had the people plant potatoes to fight starvation and was known as the
‘Potato King’. Potatoes are now a staple of Germany, and according to the
guide, along with beer.
The new palace was built to be ‘fantasically ostentatious’
and is the largest in Potsdam built by Frederick II. He didn’t like it, but
when Prussia won a war, he felt the need to show off, calling it his ‘big
boast.’ 250 rooms and it was designed as a castle of prestige. There is a large
concert this weekend that was now being set up, so you’ll see lots of trucks
and scaffolding in my pictures. There are three main buildings: the palace, the
kitchen and administration building, which is now a Humanities College of
Potsdam University, and a third smaller building.
The tour let me off at Sans Souci, and I decided to grab a
bite as I had time. I got a currywurst, which I was told is a local thing and
really good. It was a long hot dog doused in what looked like catsup but tasted
like bar-b-que sauce with some curry sprinkled on, and a small roll.
Interesting. It tasted ok but wasn’t what I expected for sure!
The Sans Souci tour was good. I was told to arrive in the
queue exactly 3 minutes before the time on my ticket. I purchased a photo
approval for 3E and got in line. There was an audio tour and we went through
the 11 rooms, including several guest rooms and greeting rooms, music room, and
others. They were incredibly decorated and quite beautiful.
When I left, I walked through the garden for a bit and
decided to walk to Brandenburg Gate near Louisenplatz. I had wanted to tour the New palace and paid for it, but was tired and sore and decided to listen to my body (I'm learning!!) The gate is quite
impressive and is very different from the Berlin Brandenburg gate. The area
behind the gate looked quite cute so I started to walk. So much for my desire
to not walk so much today and rest a bit! I walked, and walked, and walked down
a street with lots of shops and restaurants and it was very quaint. The end was
a nice church. I checked my map and at this point, it appeared I had walked
around half the way to the train station. So.. I decided to plug on.
Halfway ended up being around a third of the way, but I
continued to walk, viewing some nice architecture and more of those
five-windowed homes. It started to sprinkle then rain a bit as I arrived to the
train station.
Getting back was a little confusing. I found a board that showed
the name of the other end of the line I took to get to Potsdam, so that made
sense to me. The train was waiting and the conductor asked if I was getting on.
I asked if it was going to Berlin and he said no, that was on the opposite
track. Hmm.. decided to go to the info booth and the lady seemed to tell me
several trains would go to Berlin. I asked about the S-bahn one and she said
lines 6 and 7. I went there and both went to Berlin, which made sense as this
was the end stop on the line.
On the train I met two young guys from Boston. I suspect
they were a gay couple and were very nice. They are in Berlin for a month, and
got an apartment from air B&B. They are using Berlin as a home base, and
are planning some day trips and side trips. They are headed to Prague and I
told them about it. They are talking about going to Hamburg and some other
German towns as well.
I got off the subway, stopped at the market for a snack as I
don’t expect I’ll want dinner after that currywurst. J I am absolutely exhausted and
decided to just stay in for the evening—write, relax, and maybe take a hot bath
and try to work out the kinks so I can have another good day tomorrow. I’m
unsure what to do. It’s supposed to rain. I was considering Potsdamer Platz,
Charlottensburg Palace and Tiergarten.. the guys I met on the train told me
about an area that is supposed to be cute as well. So, I’ll see when I get up
(no alarm clock for me tomorrow!) and will see what the weather is, then
decide. In my first two days I got most of my ‘three days in Berlin’
suggestions complete!
And of course, I'm really tired and quite sore. Hopefully a hot bath and early to bed will help. I need to listen to my body a little more and not run myself down as much as I usually do while on vacation. Let's see how I do! Tomorrow may be pretty mellow. I do want to see some of west Berlin and I'm surprised by how many of the city sights are in the eastern part.
Gute nacht!
s
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