Thursday, August 14, 2014

Berlin tage drei (3)

Guten morgen meine Freunde! It’s a lovely sunny day in Berlin, though a dark cloud did follow me around and sprinkled a little, it did stay mostly sunny and gorgeous—cool in the shade and warm in the sun. Perfect!

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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