Berlin 02: Potsdam Day Trip

Sunday, August 4, 2024

I was up early this morning so I could meet my parents in the hotel lobby before setting off for the day. When I went down at 07:30, only my mom was waiting for me; she explained that my dad was still not feeling well and had opted to stay at the hotel today. I was disappointed to hear this because today we would be visiting one of the Hohenzollern palaces and possibly visiting a main World War Two sight, which I knew dad would enjoy.

Mom and I took the U-Bahn over to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (the central station), where we walked around the station to find something to eat for breakfast. Mom was eager to have another butterbrezel, but that proved more difficult to find that expected. In the end, we went to a bakery and bought some pastries and got coffee to drink. The pastries were delicious and just enough for breakfast.

Today we were heading to the nearby suburb of Potsdam for a full day of sightseeing. After figuring out what platform our train was departing, we had to wait for a little while because our train was running late. Mom wondered how I could tell so easily that the train was delayed, and also how I knew what section of the platform we would be boarding from, so I explained everything on the display board. The train departed from Berlin about 15 minutes late and the short 30-minute train journey was very pleasant.

Upon arrival in Potsdam, mom and I decided to walk over to our first sight: Sanssouci Palace. The small town is very pleasant and quaint to walk through and we marveled at many of the beautiful buildings in the city. As we crossed the river, we spied a stunning cathedral in the distance that towered over everything else in the area. As we continued walking through town, it began to rain lightly, but thankfully we had our umbrellas with us today. By the time we reached the palace itself, the rain had stopped. We went to the visitor center, bought our admission tickets and booked guided tours for the main palace, as well as the Neues Palace at the other end of the palace grounds.

Sanssouci Palace was built by Frederik the Great in the mid-1700s to serve as his more private, intimate residence. Frederik was heavily involved in the design of the Rocco-style palace, creating a single-story palace where he could escape from the pomp and ceremony of court life. Frederik never entertained women at Sanssouci and thus there were no facilities for women at the palace. The name of the palace, Sanssouci, means ‘carefree’, which was what the King sought whenever he came to the palace.

Our entry time for the palace was at 11:05 and, once inside, we collected the audio guide to begin the tour. The narration was very informative and provided some fascinating details about the palace itself, as well as Frederik and life at the palace. Even though the palace was smaller than most royal residences, it was still fully of opulent décor at every turn. The ceilings were adorned with gold ornaments, fabulous murals, and intricate carvings.

Frederik’s private study was a very nice room, with huge windows to let in the natural light, and bookshelves on every wall. He was a voracious reader, as well as an accomplished musician. The wood-paneled walls in this room were also adorned with gold decorations, but it was not ostentatious. The nearby music room was breathtaking, with gold covering the walls and ceiling and a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The central, oval room in the palace had a beautiful gold-encrusted dome with statues around the base of the dome. Greco-Roman columns lined the room, with statues in the various alcoves. This room was used in the 1990s when President Bill Clinton visited Germany, when a state dinner was hosted at the palace.

We then moved to the more private rooms of the palace, which were still beautifully decorated, but less elaborately. The bedrooms had paintings adorning every wall, with large fireplaces, and elegant furniture. Gone were the gold trimmings of the public rooms, replaced by more subtle décor. The final room on the tour had wood carvings of flowers along the walls and ceiling, along with various small animals.

The tour of Sanssouci lasted about an hour and then we had time to walk around the grounds of the palace. I took mom over to see Frederik’s grace, located at the top of the gardens, along with the graves of several of his horses. Frederik had a small vineyard constructed in the gardens, located along several stepped terraces. At the bottom of the terraces were some more formal gardens, which mom enjoyed admiring. A large pool and fountain was located at the center of the gardens. The entire palace and gardens were so peaceful and serene.

Our tour of the Neues Palace was scheduled for 13:00, so we began walking towards that palace, which was located at the far end of the wooded grounds. The gravel path took us along a small creek with swans, and we were able to glimpse the Orangerie that was built in the 1800s to house guests who would visit Sanssouci. In front of the Orangerie was a large equestrian statue of Frederik the Great.

The Neues Palace is a must larger and grander palace than Sanssouci, which Frederik had built 20 years after constructing Sanssouci. The Baroque-style palace was built after the end of the Seven Years’ War and was meant to showcase Fredeik’s power and strength to visitors. This was easily achieved – mom and I were both very impressed as we approached the palace. It was never a principal residence for Frederik, it was used for formal receptions of foreign dignitaries. The palace fell into disuse and disrepair in the decades following Frederik’s death, but it was restored during the reigns of Kaiser Frederik III and his son, Wilhelm II, who made it his preferred residence. Luckily, this area escaped the devastation of World War Two, and the palace looks as it did in 1918, when Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate and go into exile in the Netherlands.

When mom and I entered the palace at our allotted time, we were again given audio guides, but we were also put with a group of tourists for an actual guided tour – we were not permitted to tour on our own. The guided tour was all in German, hence why we had the audio guides. I was surprised to find a group of Vietnamese included with our tour – I was running into Vietnamese all over Berlin!

The tour began in the interior grotto, which was decorated using all manner of seashells to create stunning mosaics along the walls. Everything was nautical-themed, with mythical sea creatures being depicted across the room. The floor is made of marble to create more nautical images. The adjoining room had a black and white checkered floor, with a gold-covered ceiling around a stunning mural.

The public rooms were lavishly decorated, with each room having a different color theme on the walls. The rich wall coverings were accented by more gold decorations, and brilliantly illuminated by crystal chandeliers. Large paintings were hung throughout the palace, adding to the beauty of the rooms. Even the fireplaces were ornately decorated, with gold-lined mirrors hanging over the hearth. Much of the furniture dates back to the restoration under Kaiser Wilhelm II. When the Kaiser when into exile, he took most of the furniture with him to the Netherlands and it was discovered in storage, still in the original crates. One room in the palace container the standing desk that Wilhelm II had used throughout his reign and, though not confirmed, it is highly likely that it was in that room that the decision to declare war in 1914 was made, thus beginning the First World War.

After the Grotto Hall, the highlight of the palace was the Marble Hall, which was located directly above the grotto. This large hall was used as a ballroom and banquet hall, with large windows overlooking the gardens. The marble flooring was so heavy that, at one time, it threatened to collapse into the Grotto Hall below it. Careful restoration and reinforcements managed to save the Marble Hall though, preserving its stunning beauty.

Our tour of the Neues Palace lasted about an hour and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. I had been to Sanssouci before, but not the Neues Palace. It was fascinating for me to visit this remarkable palace, where so much history had taken place, particularly related to Wilhelm II.

Across the courtyard in front of the palace stood the Kolonnade mit Triphtor, two identical buildings connected by a colonnade. Each of the two buildings had once been part of the Neues Palace complex, but they were now used by the local university. They were as stunning as the palace itself: statues lined the colonnade, and each building was topped with a dome. Mom and I walked around them and the headed through the colonnade so we could get a better look.

It was late afternoon by now and we both wanted to head back to the train station so we could return to Berlin. I had considered visiting the Cecilienhof Palace, which was also located in Potsdam, but it was getting too late for a visit. Cecilienhof is where Churchill, Truman and Stalin held a conference at the end of the Second World War. I had also considered stopping along the way back to Berlin to visit the sight of Wansee Conference, where the Nazis had come up with the “Final Solution” to plan the extermination of the Jewish population. The house now serves as a museum and I thought it would be interesting to visit Again, it was getting later and we were tired from the long day.

We walked over to a nearby bus stop so we could take the bus back to the Potsdam train station. Despite the timetable stating that a bus would be coming by within 15 minutes, no busses came by in the direction that we needed to go. The bus stop across the street had several busses come by and I soon discovered that we could take one of those to reach the train station. It began to rain while we waited and thankfully the station had a covered area for us to stay dry. Finally, after waiting for nearly 45 minutes, we caught a bus and headed back to the train station.

The train back to Berlin was running 30 minutes late, but we finally departed around 16:00 to return to Berlin. The journey took about half an hour and soon we were back at Alexanderplatz. When we got to the hotel, dad was still not feeling well (he had stayed in most of the day, leaving only to get a small bite to eat).

Mom and I went out to try and find something to eat for dinner in the area. While there were many restaurants for us to choose from, nothing was grabbing our attention. We wandered around for a good 30 minutes before decided to get doner kebab near the train station. It was a small fast food shop, but the food smelled delicious. We sat down on the picnic tables outside and enjoyed our tasty meals – we were both very impressed with the doner kebab (it was mom’s first time trying it).

This evening, I planned to see the new Deadpool & Wolverine film at the cinema next to the hotel. My parents had planned to go with me, but decided to skip it since dad wasn’t feeling well. Mom asked if she could stay in my room rather than theirs in the hopes that she wouldn’t catch whatever illness was afflicting my dad. She hung out in my room while I went to see the movie.

Deadpool & Wolverine was a very good movie – not the best in the Deadpool franchise, but still very entertaining. I was glad to have had the time to see it during the trip because I wasn’t sure if it would still be showing at the cinema by the time I returned home to Hanoi. I went right back to the hotel after the movie and found mom still awake, watching some TV show on her tablet. We didn’t stay up too late tonight because we had yet another full day of sightseeing ahead of us!