Potsdam

While in Berlin, my daughter and I decided to take the "Insiders" tour to Potsdam. I had looked at a few photos online, and thought it looked like a really pretty place to visit. You know us Americans, we love to visit castles and palaces. The tour was supposed to last 6 hours and only cost 15 euros, so it sounded perfect for our last day in Berlin.

The trip to Postsdam on the train was pretty short, only about 20 min. About the first thing you see as you walk into the city center is a huge construction site. This was where the Imperial Palace was. East Germany, in its perverted, twisted thinking, had blown-up this fabulous looking building. Now, they are putting tax dollars to work to rebuild the whole thing. Looks like they have a few years to go before it is finished, but it will be a beaut!

We walked thru town and enjoyed seeing all the restored houses and buildings. It was actually quite pretty and interesting enough, that I thought about coming here for a couple of days, just to explore. There is even a Dutch neighborhood! We would have liked to have checked it out better, but there was some kind of Dutch/Tulip festival going on. Anyway, seemed like lots of stores were open on this Sunday and they all had interesting things to sell. I would have been content to roam around these streets for hours. I am happy to see this part of Germany come alive again, after so many years of being bedraggled down by the communists. It is a gem of a place.

Now on to the really cool sites. We walked to the park where the Sancoussi Palace is located. The park itself is so lovely that just wandering around it is peaceful. But, then you come upon this immense palace up on a hill and it does kinda take your breath away. It is massive and gorgeous at the same time. I think I would like to see it again in the summer though, when all the vines are grown out, as they were looking pretty bare this early in the year. The next time I come back, I do want to take a tour and see inside the place. We peeked through the windows and got a taste though. WOW.

Our next stop was the fantasy designed tea house. This was truly imagination gone wild. Have to say, it was my favorite place. All the gold, and the colors, and even the shape of the building, were so pleasing to the eye. It was whimsical but beautiful too. I have posted a photo of it here on the blog, so you can get an idea of it.

We wandered on through the park, stopping at Italian looking churches, villas that wanted to be ships, glass and gold creations by the wayside, extravagant bath houses, and of course beautiful plantings, trees, and water features. Seemed like everywhere you looked, there was something to catch your attention, something to make you go "ahhhh, will ya look at this".

Yes, we saw the graves of Fredrick the Great and all that, but that part wasn't as interesting to us. Though it was kind of amusing to see all of his dogs' graves and find that people had put potatoes on his gravestone. I found that overweird, but to each his own I suppose.

I certainly don't do justice to this beautiful, historical site with my words, but if you have a chance to get up to Berlin, make sure to set aside at least one day and go to Potsdam. I know that you will be happy that you did. This is one place that you will rave about to all your friends.