2013-12-12

Berlin - the end is upon us! - Potsdam, Germany

Potsdam, Germany

Our last day in Berlin :-( Our time here has gone so quickly and we are definitely grateful we spent a week in this wonderful city. There is so much to see and do that I wonder how people can see it all in 2-3 days (which seems to be the usual time people book in for). We certainly have not covered it all but I feel that in our 7 days here we have soaked up a lot of culture and history. The sad times, the good times and the ultimate unification of a country. It is only the tip of the iceberg in our travel around Germany. We loved passing all the Buddy Bears on the streets every day when we walked. They are the city mascots (the bear is Berlin's coat of arms). There are over 100 of these and they are painted all different colours and themes. We called them Berliner Bears :-) We spent our last day with a dap trip out to Potsdam and we are so glad we did. What a gorgeous city! We both loved the old style architecture whilst wandering through the city centre. It was a pretty overcast and drizzly day so rather than walk Sanssouci Park, we took up the offer of a bus tour with audio guide headphones and a guide at the three main get-off stops. The bus drove around the whole city and our audio instructed us which window to look out and what site/monument we would see. Most people come for Sanssouci Park and we were no different. Our first get-off stop was the Neues Palais (New Palace). This palace is huge! Now a museum it was built originally during the reign of King Frederick the Great in the 1700's and used to house his guest. His palace only had 12 rooms so he had to build a bigger one for guests. Across the road from the New Palace is the two more huge impressive buildings that were the "commoner quarters" and kitchen. Originally they used to have to carry the food across the road until they eventually built a tunnel connecting the two. Impressive! Second stop was the Sanssouci Castle itself. The 5-tier garden/vineyard and fountain out to one side of this palace is just amazing. Our photos don't do it justice but with the drizzly weather it was hard to capture it properly. The castle is now a museum as well but it is where Frederick lived and died. He is buried there alongside his 11 favourite dogs :-) One side of the castle has the formal entrance for guests with a semi-circle of huge pillars and covered walkway. The roof of this side was very regal looking. The entry ramp itself is very steep and this was to ensures only the rich would visit as you required 4 horses to pull your cart up. The other side which faces the tiered garden was the informal entry and here the roof of the palace is depicted being "held-up" by drunk figureheads or busts. Our last hop-off stop and probably my favourite was the Cecilienhof Castle. This castle was finished by 1917 for crown prince Wilhelm and his wife Cecilie. It is famous for holding the 1945 Potsdam Conference where Stalin, Truman and Churchill decided on Germany's postwar fate. The palace is more of an Englsih-style country house but the external wood work and glass windows were just awesome. The whole palace including the star of red geraniums is UNESCO heritage listed. The star of red geraniums was planted in 1945 for the Potsdam Conference. It was a red star to symbolise Russia as Stalin was the host of the conference. Each year they must re-plant the geraniums due to the star being heritage listed. The civilian houses surrounding this area were taken over by the Russians during the Cold War period and used by the KGB. It wasn't until after re-unification that the Russians left and these houses were returned to their rightful and original owners. Potsdam is now home to a lot of wealthy Germans and German celebrities. We ended our tour in the heart of the Dutch Quarter and were left to our own devices to explore. We wandered the Xmas markets, shops and streets before heading back to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and back to Berlin. We topped the night off with some delicious Indian for dinner and then packed our bags and cleaned up the apartment. We have a 6:30am train to Nürnberg tomorrow so had to get organised.... Not too hard when your as anal retentive as me ;-) We kicked back with a beer and reflected on our time in Berlin. What we had learnt and what it must have meant to the people of Germany. I don't know a lot about my German side but I am very proud to be half German. Everyone has a background and as much as this trip is a holiday for us, I also hope that it will help me get in touch with my German heritage as best I can and learn more about the country that gave me my Dad :-) It has been fun Berlin and until next time we say Tschüss!

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