After a good nights sleep and a late wake up, we pack up the few bits we took out for last night and get our stuff ready for a morning of site seeing. Our plan is to eat breakfast and head out. They can then move our stuff as soon as the first floor room is ready and we won't have to climb the steps again. Breakfast is in a huge airy set of rooms in the ground level of the main house. There is a huge selection of many different types of foods from the typical German fare to fully cooked English breakfast. There is salmon with all the trimmings so Dick and Jack are happy. After a nice breakfast, we head out to see what we can find.
The first stop is to try to see the spy bridge where the prisoner transfers took place during the Cold War Era. There is some kind of bike race today so the streets are all messed up. After much turning and cussing we find ourselves on a buff area over looking Glieniche and Tiefer Sees. We park in an open area and head up a path. This leads us along the edge past an engine house designed to look like a castle with a tower covering the smoke stack.
From there we come out into a nice park area around the Schloss Babelsberg and overlooking the infamous Glienicke Bridge. The schloss was built in 1834-5 in the Neo-Gothic style for Prince William of Prussia and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar. It is a blue bird Sunday and there are lots of families out enjoying the sunshine on this coolish day of rest. The schloss is closed for repairs which turns out to be the theme song of these historic places in old East Germany. Not much has changed since the war and there is a massive effort to restore the historic buildings at present.
Dick wants to get some pictures of an area at the back of the schloss so he explores the woods to find a vantage point. Carolyn people watches for a while and then walks back to the car to wait.
From there since the bike thing has cleared out we drive across the famous
bridge and head to the historic center of Potsdam.
We luck out with a parking space just off the pedestrian street. There is a craft market going on today so the place is very lively. We walk a ways toward the (Potsdam) Brandenburg Gate,
then turn around and head towards St Peter and Paul Kirche. Spotting a Greek carvery we have a delightful huge sandwich and drink.
On the way back to the car we notice the markers in the sidewalk detailing what was once the prison used by the Nazis and the Communist. Dick goes through a pleasant enough looking door for a tour while Carolyn shops. Dick says inside the building is scary spooky still. Carolyn has a good time and finds some little hand blown animals for Dana's kids and some strawberries.
On the way back to the hotel we drive around a bit, checking out some places we might want to get out and explore one of the days we are here.
Potsdam is a beautiful old city. Very little was harmed during the war and time stood still during its time as part of East Germany. There are the Palaces of Park Sans Souci, Cecilienhof, the Old Dutch and Russian quarters of the old city center and the beautiful waterways to explore. Really much more than we can do during the time we have especially since we plan to spend tomorrow in Berlin. Oh well that just means we will have to come back!
Returning to the hotel we find we have a delightful new room with a little patio and nice view of the gardens. Since we ate a big late breakfast and an even bigger later lunch, we are not hungry. We spend the late afternoon and evening enjoying the hotel grounds with cocktails and then a dinner of our Dutch cheese, local bread and fresh fruit from the down town market/
