Schloss Charlottenburg

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After the trip to a real, old fort, the next obvious thing to do was go to a real old Palace. Luckily, there is one quite near me (only a few U-bahn stops away). It was quite a beautiful day, and excellent for outdoor excursions. I started off the day with a visit to Schloss Charlottenburg, which is a 300 year old palace built by Friedrich I in a very classic Baroque style. I am not a huge fan of baroque architecture, but I must say that this is nevertheless one of the most beautiful buildings that I have seen in Berlin. However, for me, what was even more amazing and beautiful are the huge gardens behind the palace. I walked around them for probably half an hour and I know that I did not come even closet to seeing everything. There were grand squares with fountains and intricate designs formed by the placement of the flowers plantings. There were more woody sections with quiet streams and a little mini-pond. It definitely was a gorgeous place.

After the Schloss, I went to to see Berlin’s most famous city park: Tiergarten. Originally, it was actually the royal hunting grounds, but as Berlin grew, it sort of became surrounded by city and not really usable for hunting anymore. It now is a very large, woody park right in the middle of central Berlin. It is a very nice and relaxing place to wander around on a beautiful day.

I spent some time there wandering and reading a little bit of Walden Pond. I am so glad that I brought this book. It is so perfect for travelling with. Whenever I am a little bored I read a little and it opens my eyes to how much there is around me and how imporant and intersting every little thing can be, from the people that walk in front of me, to the birds around me to the feel of this amazing city.

While I was in Tiergarten, I visited the 70m (210 ft) tall Siegesäule, which is a tall victory column made to commemorate Germany’s victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. It is a strinking monument of granite and brass that appears gold in the sun. It has a huge brass statue of the Goddess of Victory on top of it, that must be about 4 or 5 meters tall. I climbed up the tower, which, though an exhausting 285 steps, afforded me a wonderful view of the city. Berlin is remarkably flat, geographically, and that combined with the lack of high skyscrapers in the city center, means that you can see for quite a ways from up there. It is fascinating to be able to see the full panorama of the city, from the Berliner Dom and the TV Tower, which Dominate the skyline to the East to the power plant and factories that you can just make out on the edges of Berlin, probably some 10 or 12 kilometers away. It is so flat in Berlin! The only two hills in the area are actually artificial hills made from all the rubble in the city after the Second World War.

The walking and particularly the climbing made me rather tired and I went home and slept quite soundly.

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