We woke up at 9:30 am with our alarm and got ready for a busy day - we ended up walking another 14.6 km today. The first thing on our list was a guided tour of Potsdam. We joined our guide at the Starbucks near Brandenburg Gate and took the train to the town of Potsdam that is about 15 miles out of Berlin.
The walking tour was 5.5 hours long and started at the new palace in the city along with the old city hall and an ugly building from the communist era that is now a school. During the Second World War, there were no bombs dropped over Potsdam but just after the war had been declared over, in a spate of revenge bombing, a British pilot unloaded a 2000 kg payload of explosives over the site of the new palace destroying the building. The palace has now been reconstructed and now houses the parliament of the state of Brandenburg (of which Potsdam is the capital city). Then we took a tram and got off in the town of Potsdam.
Our next stop was the so-called bridge of spies that connected East and West Germany during the Cold War era with both sides having half the bridge. Apart from Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, this bridge of spies was another famous point along the Berlin Wall where the US and the Soviet Union shared the border. It's name comes from the fact that this bridge was used to trade spies that each side had caught in return for their own men.
Then we walked under the bridge to the huge gardens surrounding the palaces of Potsdam and arrived at the first palace called the Cecilienhof (literally meaning Cecilia's place - a member of the Prussian royal family). This palace was used for the Potsdam Conference that was essentially a series of negotiations between the allied forces to determine who would govern which area of Germany after it had been defeated in World War 2. The US was represented by President Truman, Britain was represented by Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union was represented by Josef Stalin. Stalin specially asked the gardeners to carve out a Marxist star with red pansies in the center of the palace to play mind games with other conference participants to know that the negotiations were happening on his home turf.
Then we walked to the old city center of Potsdam where we took a short break and then saw the Brandenburg gate of Potsdam which is smaller than the one in Berlin but it has more elaborate sculptures and designs on the gate.
Our next stop was the Church of Peace that has the graves of Frederick Wilhelm the first (the soldier king) and some other Prussian kings.
Then the final stop of our guided tour was the Sanssouci Palace which was built by Frederick the Great. It is the grandest palace in Germany and was designed by Frederick the Great himself. Now he is buried next to the palace (after his body was moved around different sites for 200 years).
Frederick the Great was by far the most popular and successful of the Prussian kings. He was the opposite of his father Frederick Wilhelm the first (the soldier king). Frederick Wilhelm the first was called the soldier king since his favorite pastime was creating a disciplined and superior army. The ironic thing is that he never got a chance to use his army. He had a special division in the army which consisted solely of tall men and these men were then forced to marry tall women, in an attempt to create a line of superior soldiers. His son Frederick the Great had no interest in armies and wars and instead loved literature, music and philosophy. He spoke six languages and played the flute and composed over 120 flute compositions in his lifetime. The famous French philosopher Voltaire was a friend of Frederick the Great's and used to spend a lot of time with him at the Potsdam's Sanssouci Palace. Frederick the Great had a chance to use his father's army in the seven year war when he defeated the three mightiest armies of Europe at the time - French, Austrians and Russians - to put Prussia on the map of Europe as a powerful kingdom. Frederick the Great introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice. He also promoted an advanced secondary education. The Prussian education system was later emulated in various countries, including the United States. After Frederick the Great, the Prussian kingdom never saw the same expansion and started weakening internally for the next 100 years that saw 5 more kings but none of them ruled for longer than Frederick the Great's 46 years in power. The dynasty finally culminated in the rule of Wilhelm 2 (also known as Kaiser Wilhelm) who started World War 1 and then fled from the country after defeat, resulting in the abolishment of the dynasty.
We bought tickets to see the Sanssouci palace from the inside and unlike other palaces, this was royally grand but still simple. Simple in the sense that it "only" has 13 rooms since this was strictly a residential palace and Frederick the Great never conducted any stately affairs here. It was grand but you could feel the stark difference from the French Palace of Versailles which is luxurious at a whole different level.
After that, we took first a bus and then a train back to Berlin. We had made an online reservation to see the Reichstag (the German parliament) but we found out when we reached there that the tour for our slot had been canceled because of a state dinner for dignitaries from the US.
After that we continued walking down Unter den Linden from where our walking tour had ended yesterday. We started at the Museum Island and saw the Berlinerdom (Berlin Cathedral) and Altus Museum. We will be doing a complete tour of Berlinerdom tomorrow so details on that will be in tomorrow's email.
We continued walking to the TV tower that is perhaps the only lasting structure of significance from the Eastern German times. It was constructed in 1969 to celebrate 20 years of the creation of East Germany.
After that, we finished our walk at Alexandarplatz and then took a bus back to our hotel. We then walked to an Italian restaurant where we had delicious vegetarian fresh pasta and equally yummy tiramisu for dessert. Now we are back at our hotel and will be going to bed.
Tomorrow's plan includes exploring the Berlinerdom (Berlin Cathedral), Charlottenburg Palace and Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. We think that we've covered Berlin and it's history in great detail in the last two days so we'll keep tomorrow a relatively relaxed day with possibly some exploration of contemporary modern Berlin too.
On that note, just a quick word on Germany. We're thoroughly impressed by the country and its people. They are efficient, punctual, supremely organized and technologically way more advanced than any country we've seen (including the US and Canada) and extremely helpful. Sarim kept telling us that Berlin was his favorite city of Europe in his month-long euro trip but we (read Samia) didn't get convinced. Well, Samia is a convert and is loving Berlin and its people! Alright then, it's goodbye till tomorrow.
Take care and good night.
The walking tour was 5.5 hours long and started at the new palace in the city along with the old city hall and an ugly building from the communist era that is now a school. During the Second World War, there were no bombs dropped over Potsdam but just after the war had been declared over, in a spate of revenge bombing, a British pilot unloaded a 2000 kg payload of explosives over the site of the new palace destroying the building. The palace has now been reconstructed and now houses the parliament of the state of Brandenburg (of which Potsdam is the capital city). Then we took a tram and got off in the town of Potsdam.
Our next stop was the so-called bridge of spies that connected East and West Germany during the Cold War era with both sides having half the bridge. Apart from Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, this bridge of spies was another famous point along the Berlin Wall where the US and the Soviet Union shared the border. It's name comes from the fact that this bridge was used to trade spies that each side had caught in return for their own men.
Then we walked under the bridge to the huge gardens surrounding the palaces of Potsdam and arrived at the first palace called the Cecilienhof (literally meaning Cecilia's place - a member of the Prussian royal family). This palace was used for the Potsdam Conference that was essentially a series of negotiations between the allied forces to determine who would govern which area of Germany after it had been defeated in World War 2. The US was represented by President Truman, Britain was represented by Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union was represented by Josef Stalin. Stalin specially asked the gardeners to carve out a Marxist star with red pansies in the center of the palace to play mind games with other conference participants to know that the negotiations were happening on his home turf.
Then we walked to the old city center of Potsdam where we took a short break and then saw the Brandenburg gate of Potsdam which is smaller than the one in Berlin but it has more elaborate sculptures and designs on the gate.
Our next stop was the Church of Peace that has the graves of Frederick Wilhelm the first (the soldier king) and some other Prussian kings.
Then the final stop of our guided tour was the Sanssouci Palace which was built by Frederick the Great. It is the grandest palace in Germany and was designed by Frederick the Great himself. Now he is buried next to the palace (after his body was moved around different sites for 200 years).
Frederick the Great was by far the most popular and successful of the Prussian kings. He was the opposite of his father Frederick Wilhelm the first (the soldier king). Frederick Wilhelm the first was called the soldier king since his favorite pastime was creating a disciplined and superior army. The ironic thing is that he never got a chance to use his army. He had a special division in the army which consisted solely of tall men and these men were then forced to marry tall women, in an attempt to create a line of superior soldiers. His son Frederick the Great had no interest in armies and wars and instead loved literature, music and philosophy. He spoke six languages and played the flute and composed over 120 flute compositions in his lifetime. The famous French philosopher Voltaire was a friend of Frederick the Great's and used to spend a lot of time with him at the Potsdam's Sanssouci Palace. Frederick the Great had a chance to use his father's army in the seven year war when he defeated the three mightiest armies of Europe at the time - French, Austrians and Russians - to put Prussia on the map of Europe as a powerful kingdom. Frederick the Great introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice. He also promoted an advanced secondary education. The Prussian education system was later emulated in various countries, including the United States. After Frederick the Great, the Prussian kingdom never saw the same expansion and started weakening internally for the next 100 years that saw 5 more kings but none of them ruled for longer than Frederick the Great's 46 years in power. The dynasty finally culminated in the rule of Wilhelm 2 (also known as Kaiser Wilhelm) who started World War 1 and then fled from the country after defeat, resulting in the abolishment of the dynasty.
We bought tickets to see the Sanssouci palace from the inside and unlike other palaces, this was royally grand but still simple. Simple in the sense that it "only" has 13 rooms since this was strictly a residential palace and Frederick the Great never conducted any stately affairs here. It was grand but you could feel the stark difference from the French Palace of Versailles which is luxurious at a whole different level.
After that, we took first a bus and then a train back to Berlin. We had made an online reservation to see the Reichstag (the German parliament) but we found out when we reached there that the tour for our slot had been canceled because of a state dinner for dignitaries from the US.
After that we continued walking down Unter den Linden from where our walking tour had ended yesterday. We started at the Museum Island and saw the Berlinerdom (Berlin Cathedral) and Altus Museum. We will be doing a complete tour of Berlinerdom tomorrow so details on that will be in tomorrow's email.
We continued walking to the TV tower that is perhaps the only lasting structure of significance from the Eastern German times. It was constructed in 1969 to celebrate 20 years of the creation of East Germany.
After that, we finished our walk at Alexandarplatz and then took a bus back to our hotel. We then walked to an Italian restaurant where we had delicious vegetarian fresh pasta and equally yummy tiramisu for dessert. Now we are back at our hotel and will be going to bed.
Tomorrow's plan includes exploring the Berlinerdom (Berlin Cathedral), Charlottenburg Palace and Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. We think that we've covered Berlin and it's history in great detail in the last two days so we'll keep tomorrow a relatively relaxed day with possibly some exploration of contemporary modern Berlin too.
On that note, just a quick word on Germany. We're thoroughly impressed by the country and its people. They are efficient, punctual, supremely organized and technologically way more advanced than any country we've seen (including the US and Canada) and extremely helpful. Sarim kept telling us that Berlin was his favorite city of Europe in his month-long euro trip but we (read Samia) didn't get convinced. Well, Samia is a convert and is loving Berlin and its people! Alright then, it's goodbye till tomorrow.
Take care and good night.
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