okay. So the flight there wasn't as smooth as it could have been.....but arriving an hour and a half late didn't really ruin any plans...as well the weather sort of did that already (who wants to have a picnic at a castle when it's raining?).
In lieu of actually doing Berlin again, we decided that this weekend we would go to the outer skirts of east Germany, to a small town called Paretz (which, well, was no very exciting), and then to Potsdam. We headed to Paretz to see an exhibition about Queen Louise, the fashion icon of the Prussian monarchy. The exhibition was at the Schloss Paretz, the country home of the Friedrich Wilhelm III and Luise, and was completely devoted to what both monarchs wore and how fashioned evolved during their reign. It was pretty cool to see the jewelry, hats, scarfs, coats, dresses, toothbrushes, makeup, paintings, and even their marriage carriage (which by the way looked EXACTLY like the one from Cinderella). Each room was devoted to a particular 'time of day' or 'type of event' and they had the original clothing and accessories (and English translation) to explain when things were worn, why, etc. I took pictures. but I cannot display them for reasons discussed below. After the Exhibition we decided to wander around the small town, and after about 30 minutes of strolling and poking our heads into a tiny cute-ss-church-i've-ever-seen church, we decided to get into the car and head to Potsdam.
Potsdam, known to me as the place where the Potsdam conference was held at the end of WWII, is actually a pretty cool little town. But slightly odd as well, it has a lot of neat things, everything was sort of all over the place, and the main city centre was not really too interesting. The city itself, other than for the Potsdam conference, is actually the capital of Brandenburg, one of the federal entities in Germany. It is also home to a neat Russian quarter, where the Russian government built a whole neighborhood that looks like old world Russia for the Russian orchestra that was living there. There is also a dutch quarter that looks like your walking down a street in Amsterdam. And of course. there is the Park-Sanssousi. The summer palace of the old Prussian princes and kings.
When we arrived in Potsdam we decided to check out the city centre and the dutch quarter first. This is also where I experienced my first pickpocketing. Yes, my camera was stolen right out of my pocket!!!! This is why there are no photos of the weekend. Some stupid person who stole a half broken camera from my pocket and I didn't even feel it! It makes me angry on so many levels! I guess you can never be too careful (even in Potsdam!).
So after we searched for the camera and I had a slight fit, we decided to break for lunch then walk to Sanssouci. This was a good plan as the camera incident required some time to settle (and I had to get used to the fact that I can't control stupid people or the fact that my camera and memory card are gone). After lunch we started the 1 km trek to the parc. We stopped for some ice cream (walnut fig and rasberry lime sorbet was one cone, and Cactus and salted caramel was the other....I mention the flavours because they were so novel!). When we arrived at the gates of the park we were greated by perfectly placed bundles of yellow, orange and red/pink flowers. We stopped to take a look, then began our 5km trek around the park and it was great!
We arrived at 3 ish there so it wasn't too busy and we could walk around without being trampled by the usual array of tour groups. The Park itself has two large castles (the Neues Palais and Sanssouci (google them to see the beautiful pictures!)). There is also a chinese tea garden (Chinesisches Haus), an Orangerie, a guest house, a wind mill, roman baths, and so many other wonderful little structures all over the perfectly manicured park. We decided to hit Sanssouci and the Neues Palais, the two largest building, but of course we also took detours to visit some of the other things too (like the Chinesische Haus and the Wind mill).
The first on the two big buildings was of course Sanssouci (meaning, 'without a care'). It was the summer home of the Prussian monarchy and build by Fredrich the Great between 1745 and 1747. It is Baroque style yellow building with a green roof perched on a hill, with an enormous half garden stair case to reach the entrance. When you reach the top of the stairs, the first thing you see is huge bold etchings that says 'Sans Souci'. Magnificent! It is actually only one story (which may explain the short building time), but I think that the one story is what makes it so eye catching!
As we arrived there so late, the person at the entrance suggested that in lieu of buying the normal day ticket (that gives you entrance to everything in the park), that we pick one of the 'attractions' and just tour one (you really need to devote an entire day, not a mere 3 hours for this park!). On Max's suggestion, we decided to not actually go into Sanssouci, but to head to the Neue Palais or New Palace.
The Neue Palais is brick, but looks pink from far away. It was built between 1763 and 1769 and is at the opposite end of the Park Sanssouci, 2km from the main entrance). It was built by Fredrich the Great to brag about Prussia's huge expansion post seven years war. Yes, back then people built 220 metre long castles, complete with over 400 hand made sculptures to show off their wealth and power.
There is one large main house and two 'smaller' servants houses (which now house parts of Potsdam University). When we arrived we got our audio guides and just before I headed into the first room I was handed a pair of felt slippers and instructed to put them on while I walk through the castle. This would have been a perfect photo moment..... When I thought about it, and although we all looked slightly retarded, the slipper idea is a good one. 1) so guests don't ruin the mixture of granite, marble and wood floors (depending on which room), and 2) free floor polishing with every person who where's the slippers! As first it was hard to walk with them on (over your shoes), but then I started to sort of glide like one does when walking on curling ice (yes, I curled for two years in highschool). Once I got the hang of it, it was quite fun indeed!
The palais, like most things in Europe, is going through serious restoration. But it was still interesting to see the varying states of deterioration, and what and how the restoration artists go about fixing it up. In the main reception room the walls were covered in gems and sea shells! Each room is carefully decorated with a specific theme (one room had peacocks!). We weren't able to access the whole palace, but we did see two of the kings (and his kids') apartments, the state hall (where they celebrated Christmas!), a couple writing rooms (larger than my entire apartment), dressing rooms and 'sleeping quarters'. Very Nice. Very Cultural. and walking with 5 pound slippers on your feet also meant that we had a workout! hehe.
After the tour was over we ventured to the gift shop and I bought some post cards (to replace my lost photos) and a book about German castles, stately houses, etc (in English, complete with cool photos of each place, driving directions and 'places to go nearby') and we began our trek back to the car, and eventually back to Berlin (well, Spandau, the suburb where Max lives).
We got back to Spandau around 8 and decided to have dinner in the backyard and just relax (after walking all day!). Not much more to report, but still a nice weekend!
Becca comes in four days and Amanda comes in a week and two days! Visitors to Budapest means I can be a tourist again!!!
Stay tuned for updates!
Hey, sorry about the camera. Your new one will be so much better. Enjoy your visitors. Time is moving very fast.
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