Berlin again - Potsdam & Sanssouci

September 2005

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Annie and I decided it was time for another trip to Berlin to visit Annie's brother Jonathan (yes, same name and spelling as me!) and his partner, Kurt. We also decided to go while the weather was still decent as last time we were there it was a VERY dreary November. We could not have chosen better, our hosts and the weather treated us really well so we had a great visit.

Our first surprise was when we arrived. Jonathan had arranged to meet us at the airport but what neither he nor we knew was what Kurt had planned. He was in the process of deciding what new car to buy so he had arranged to test drive a car for the entire day of our arrival.

We headed off straight out of Berlin to Potsdam which is in what was East Germany. The route they drove took us over a bridge where captured spies were swapped between East and West Germany. You could picture the scene on a dark and misty night with silhouetted figures passing each other on the bridge. It must have been really frightening to be caught spying!

Our first stop was at a Russian Tea House next to a magnificent old church with the hugest pipe-organ I have ever seen. This is where we saw this amazing sunflower.

Potsdam has a few different but equally interesting areas and has also become a very trendy place to own an out-of-Berlin house so most of the grand old houses have been restored to their former glory. There is also an area where the houses have all been built in the old Russian log-style and look really beautiful. Potsdam is also on the edge of the Wansee, a beautiful lake which has the dubious history of having one of the villas where Hitler and his henchmen discussed and agreed "The Final Solution" for the extermination of all Jews. We are very happy to be living proof of that failure!

Our next stop was at a beautiful villa built entirely of marble. To walk around inside it you have to wear slippers over your shoes. Quite an experience with each room different from the last but equally if not more beautiful.

Another area Potsdam is famous for is Sanssouci, the palace, home and where Friedrich II, The Great died and is buried. It is in a huge park where he had some really amazing palaces and other houses built. The largest of all is the Neue Palais which is where visitors were accommodated and which had an entirely separate building for the kitchens and staff accommodation. The two buildings are connected via an underground passage so the food could be RUN across to the dining room and still be hot!

The smallest building we saw and the most fascinating was the Chinese Teahouse. It was built with golden figures around it, meant to be Chinese but with very western looks. It is quite amazing what Freidrich The Great and his successors all built in Sanssouci, almost like children with their dolls houses and imagination running wild.

Our last stop for the day was for a late lunch. Jonathan and Kurt told us about this restaurant with THE BEST hot chocolate anywhere so, after a delicious lunch we had to sample it. They weren't wrong. YUMM!!!