Potsdam!

I had to wake up bright and early to meet Ramsey, Sarah, Marc and Sheri at Alexanderplatz so we could grab a train to Potsdam. This city is best known for the palace of Sanssouci which used to be the home of Frederick the Great and other Prussian monarchy. The weather was absolutely beautiful all day long and I got some beautiful pictures.

Marc was leading our adventure, as he had been to Potsdam before and was something of an expert on the history of the area. We first visited the old Dutch Quarter, naturally first because Marc is Dutch. We looked at the Nicholaikirche (old church basically)Then a short walk up the road was the smaller Brandenburg Tor. This one was much much smaller then the gate in Berlin and was built a long time before. We then headed over to Sanssouci.

We entered the grounds and walked down a long avenue of trees. At the end of the avenue we make a turn and suddenly there was Sanssouci! The palace is placed at the top of a hill with terraces and steps leading up to it. At the bottom of the stairs is a great fountain. I tried to get a few good pictures of the fountain and the front of the palace but the durn tourists kept cluttering up my pictures...

We climbed up the steps and walked around the back of the palace. We debated going in for the tour, but the line was long and the tour guides grumpy so we decided against it. We then headed over to the Orangerie Palace and then what I think was the observatory before stopping for a drink. I tried the Berliner Weiße which is a beer that is then mixed with raspberry syrup. Very good. We grabbed a quick lunch of currywurst and continued exploring. We visited the New Palace and wandered the grounds until we came across the Chinese House, which was quite hideous in my opinion.

Before we left, we stopped to have another beer and I had some ice cream. (One of the flavors, Amadeus, was REALLY good but I have no clue what was in it)Marc walked us through an area that Potsdam is fixing up (getting rid of some old communist buildings and reconstructing a parliamentary building of sorts) Then we hopped on our train and headed back to Berlin.