08 October 2009

Wednesday, 7 October 2009 - Sans Souci



Today we go to Potsdam, catching at Regio at Zooligischergarten and proceeding to Potsdam Hbf, and from there on Bus 695 to the Park.  On the bus a Berlin teacher with a group of students gives us an introduction to the park.  Very nice.  We buy our tickets and are in the palace within 15 minutes.  There is no longer a guided tour, but an audio-guide, which makes it a lot nicer.  So we amble our way through the rooms, gaining a new respect for the Rococo.  The commentary doesn't take too much time with the "childless marriage" and the separate living arrangements of our favorite homosexual king (or wait, does Ahketaten count?)  The rooms are lovely, especially the 3D room with all of the fruit.



We also go view the kitchens and wine cellar.  All very interesting.

Next we wander down the terrace and over to Friedenkirche, which is looking quite nice.  The Marley Garden is beautiful as well.  In spite of the threat of rain - the day and the park is beautiful.  We have lunch at the little restaurant at the end of Green Gate, and then go back in proceeding to the Chinese Tea House - it's open this time, and on to the Roman Baths, and then to Charlottenhof.  We are the only two to tour the little palace, which is almost charming in an italo-teutonic kind of way.  The copper prints of Rafael are interesting, and the Schinkel furniture is very nice.  

Our goal at this point is to go over to the Neues Palais.  Our good intentions soon give way to our backs, and after a brief rest (nap?) on a park bench, we dismiss the palais (our hotel-keeper Peter dismisses it as bourgeois) so I guess we've made a good decision.  Instead we cut by the Temple of Friendship, and the "Antique Temple" (itself a ruin, waiting to be restored) and go past the model fort and up the hill to the Drachonhaus where we have cake and coffee.



We walk down the allee that runs from the Orangerie to the Belvedere.  With the trees beginning to change it is really a lovely site.  At the Orangerie, which they actually use as such, we view the private rooms with a tour guide doing only German - she's really quite good, and then the Rafael rooms.  Having just seen many of the originals in Florence, these copies look flat, but they pleased the IVth.

There's a quick stop by the store, but nothing to by so we catch the bus and then the train.  Going back in we have seats.  We stop at Augsburgerplatz, and have dinner at a Turkish restaurant, which was very good, and then back to the hotel.

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