The next day saw me on a train to Berlin and then my aunt's place near Potsdam. She lives in a beautiful house with a beautiful garden backing onto a forest. Wow! So nice!
I didn't do much sight-seeing the first day and a half - it was nice to just relax a bit and play with kittens. The kittens which slept on the bed with me. It was wonderful to have a kitten to pet again!!! And since there were two kittens, I had my choice!
We also went into Berlin Kreuzberg to visit my cousin and drag her away from her work to go out to dinner. It was great to see her again. Our dinner was at a vegetarian restaurant just a little down the road from my cousin's place. It was very nice food - I had a schnitzel made from wheat. Interesting :-)
The next day it was back into the swing of sight-seeing. My feet hurt almost immediately, but I persevered. There were photos to be taken!! So Potsdam Day 1 was a leisurely walk around Sans Soucci Park. I had been inside the palace several times, so we didn't bother going in. There are various other buildings in and around the park, too. Since it was a Monday, most places were closed, though.
We also walked outside the park, past some gorgeous villas to the Krongut Bornstedt, which looks very italian, and the church opposite.
All in all, it was a beautiful place to visit and we had fantastic weather to go along with it, which was nice!
Of course, this wasn't enough for me. We had a nice dinner in Caputh (where Einstein had a holiday house), right on the river there. Very picturesque.
The next day we hit Potsdam again, this time wandering through Neuer Garten. This, as the name implies, is the new garden and the buildings are a little younger. Unfortunately, some of them were still undergoing renovation regardless.
First stop was the beautiful, fully rebuilt, Belvedere in the Pfingstberg in Neuer Garten. We had to pay admission to climb to the top and see inside, but there were nice views up there, so it wasn't too bad. The building itself went to wreck and ruin during the time it was East Germany - they obviously spent their money elsewhere.
Next stop was Cecilienhof Palace. Also a famous one (location for the Potsdam Conference in 1945 with Stalin, Truman and Churchhill), which I'd been in before so didn't bother going inside. It's quite unusual in that it's built in the Tudor style.
After that we wandered over to the Marmor Palais, the marble palace. This place was undergoing extensive renovation, so the exterior was completely covered up. Tours were available on a limited circuit, so we took the opportunity to see the inside at least. Of course, no photos were allowed!
And that was it for photographs in that corner of the world.
Next stop, Hamburg :-)
