Wednesday, May 20th Potsdam

We were on our way to Potsdam by 8AM with the Wall Street Journal and USA Today on hand. Joy was thrilled to see that Shawn Johnson won Dancing with the Stars and Jeff was saddened that the market lost 29 points. Potsdam is located in the former German Democratic Republic, just outside the wall surrounding West Berlin.

It was great that we got to Sanssouci (“without a care”) early. This is the Palace of Frederic the Great, who used it as his summer home. We strolled through all the beautiful gardens and enjoyed seeing the interior of the palace for 12 euros to see 12 rooms. There are 740 acres but we opted not to see it all!!!! Frederick the Great (King of Prussia for 46 yrs.) built this palace in 1745 in the rococo style, his favorite and famous for its vineyards .We walked around the grounds for an hour viewing the statues, vineyards and flowers…what a treat! David and I went down another lane and ran into the Chinese Tea House…Jackie would have loved it. As we left we stopped by his grave where he and his 8 dogs are all buried …no wife…she never came here but chose to live in the palace in Berlin. Wouldn’t you know she was barren.

Outside the grounds we grabbed a quick lunch from an outdoor stand as it was warm and sunny. Joy had a boiled egg sandwich, Mary had a German pizza, and Jeff and David ate sausage etc. It was good except for our day’s disaster….Mary lost a part of her tooth…she’s ok…noticed it has not stopped her from eating. From there we drove to the New Palace, also built by Frederick the Great, which was only 6 euros to see 24 rooms. “Twice the palace for half the price”, was David’s comment. Even though it needs a lot of work the part we saw was much more elegant than Sanssouci. This palace was one of Germany’s most extravagant and most dazzling. Part of this palace (the guest rooms) now houses the University of Potsdam.

We went from there to Alexandrowka, which is the Russian colony in the northern part of Potsdam. It consists of 13 wooden houses in the Russian style which were built between 1826 and 1827. Very unique! Frederick Wilhelm III had these houses built for the Russian singers of the Prussian Regiment….as he loved music. Some of those ancestors still live in these houses today.

From there we drove to Cecilienhof, the site of the Potsdam Conference held between July 17 and August 2, 1945. Harry Truman, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Clement Atlee met to decide the future of Germany and post war Europe. Mary was chagrined that we opted to not pay 6 euros to see the room where this took place, as she had been there before and it made a lasting impression on her. We elected to buy lots of postcards instead.

Then we drove by the Dutch Quarter which was built in 1732 at the request of Frederick Wilhelm I, the soldier king. This was a series of three streets that looked a lot like Amsterdam with their gable roofs.

Our last site out of Potsdam back to Berlin, only 17 miles, was the Glienicke Bridge where prisoner’s exchanges were made during the Cold War. Creepy!

Now all we have to do today is decide where and what to eat for dinner and pack and be ready to leave by 8AM tomorrow. Just as a reminder, we are now going to Poland so you may not hear from us for a few days. Hopefully we can find an internet café as we are not counting on our hotel having internet connection.