Potsdam

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Geo: 52.404, 13.0397

Bugger, I accidentally deleted the previous Potsdam entry. Now I need to redo it, grrr!

Today we drove 45min to Potsdam to catch a two-hour Segway tour. It was too hot to do another walking tour. We asked the dozy staff about where to park, but ended up getting a ticket! The fine is only €10 but now we have to work out how to pay it.

Prices in Germany are similar or cheaper to those in Oz. A $10 parking ticket in Oz? Not likely. They have rows and rows (walls even) of packaged cheese slices and salami-type meats in the supermarket. Robyn commented it reminded her of the skit by Borat where he repeatedly asks the incredibly polite staff member "Is this cheese, is this cheese, etc". We saw fresh baked bread rolls for sale at 13c each, six-packs of 500ml beer for €7+. Diesel costs about €1.10 and petrol about €1.40 per litre.

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Photos

Cecilienhof Castle
This was the last palace built during WWI by the Prussian Hohenzollern dynasty. It is famous as the meeting place in late July 1945 of Stalin, Churchill (then Atlee) and Harry Truman for what is now called the Potsdam Conference. These meetings determined the fate of the vanquished Germany and created East and West Germany (and Berlin).

Alexandrowka Russian Village
These twelve picturesque houses (they remind me of a cuckoo clock) were built by a Kaiser and donated to singers from the Russian Regiment who were Prussia's allies in the war against France. The gift stipulated that the houses could only be passed on to direct male heirs of the original owners. Today, nearly two hundred years later, one of the houses is still owned by a descendant.

Sanssouci Palace
Frederick II's "no worries" retreat from the Prussian Court, built in the mid-18thC.
Frederick I was known as the Soldier-King and he assembled a formidable army but never used it. His grandson Frederick II was a spectacular ruler from 1740-1786. He expanded and consolidated the Kingdom in many areas by various means. (Remember the earliest Kiel Canal?). Within his lifetime he became known as Frederick the Great.

Potsdam's Brandenburg Gate
This tour seemed to be more about the Segways rather than a serious historical tour. Our guide was a German uni student who seemed inexperienced as a guide, light on detailed historical knowledge and with good, but not fluent English. Perhaps we were still spoiled by the thoroughly professional tour we had the previous day.

Nauen (Dutch) Gate
Built in 1755 this is one of the three preserved Potsdam city gates (the others being the Hunters Gate and the Brandenburg Gate). There was a Saturday market with good eats, and delis selling cheeses and sausages.

Comments

[Kerrie Lonn]

Looks lovely.

[Kerrie Lonn]

You seem to have got the hang of this mode of transport