Sunday 29th April
Our time on-board finished today when we left the boat for
the last time at 8:30, where did the week go?
Our first stop today was at Potsdam the capital city of theGerman federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the Rivel Havel, 24 km
(15 mi) southwest of Berlin ity centre. The
name "Potsdam" originally seems to have been "Poztupimi"
from a West Slavonic name meaning "beneath the oaks", highlighting
the area's many grand oak trees. Potsdam
has several claims to national and international notability. In Germany, it had the status that Windsor has in Britain and was the residence of the Prussian
kings and German Kaisers, until 1918.
Potsdam which was in Hohenzollern
possession from 1415, became prominent when it was chosen in 1660 as the
hunting residence of Frederick William I, Elector of Brendenburg, Elector of Brandenburg, the core of the powerful state
that later became the Kingdom of Prussia, it also housed Prussian baracks.
After the Edict of Poysdam in 1685, Potsdam became a centre of European immigration.
Its religious freedom attracted people from France (Huuenots), Russia, the Netherlands and Bohemia. The edict accelerated population growth and economic recovery.
Later, the city became a full
residence of thePrussian royal family. The majestic buildings of the royal
residences were built mainly during the reign of Frederick the Great. One of these is the Sanssouci Palace, famed for its formal gardens and Rococo interiors. Other royal residences include
the New Palace and the Orangery.
Our first stop was at Sanssouci
Palace, built in 1744, a World Heritage site with extensive gardens and lakes, it
was built as a summer residence but as it wasn’t large enough for visitors,
Frederick commissioned the conversion of the Orangery into function and guest
rooms, we were able to walk through the Orangery to view the elaborate rooms
and later strolled around the gardens.
On the lawn outside the Sanssouci
Palace were eight graves with a flagstone covering, these were the graves of
Frederick the Great’s pets and when he died he directed that he was to be
buried in the same patch of lawn. His
nephew, who succeeded him, wouldn’t allow this to happen and buried him in the
family church, it wasn’t until the 1990s that his wish was fulfilled when his
remains where exhumed and reburied in the lawn.
Frederick the Great introduced the potato to Germany and his gravestone
was covered by many potatoes, left by visitors as a memorial instead of
flowers.
Leaving the gardens we drove,
passing many more palaces, arriving at Cecelienhof Palace which was built in
the Tudor style, most unusual when compared to the Rococo and Baroque styles of
the other palaces. It was here in 1945
that Churchill, Trueman and Stalin met at the “Potsdam Conference” to discuss
the split up of Post War Germany.
Arriving in Berlin we were driven
around the town visiting many of the well-known sites, this was appreciated by
many of the group as they were leaving early next morning to fly home and was
the only opportunity that they had to “see” Berlin.
After checking into our hotel we
walked around the corner to a German restaurant for a traditional dinner, a
half metre sausage, vegetables and a litre of beer. We may never need to eat again!
Monday 30th April
After breakfast we left the
hotel, thus ending our Prague to Berlin cruise and caught the underground to
Freidrickstrasse station and then walked to the hostel where we had booked a
studio apartment, we had stayed here four years ago and it is in an ideal
position to explore central Berlin.
We decided that today would be a
day of rest and apart from walking to a supermarket to stock up our kitchen; we
just read and lazed about in the hostel’s winter garden.
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