Welcome to Potsdam everybody! I hope you like it, because I certainly do. The best way to explain what Potsdam was is to do the (old) SAT relationship questions:
Versailles is to Paris as _______ was to Berlin.
The answer is Potsdam! Potsdam is where the royals used to truly hang out. The place is full of palaces and all wanna-be princesses are guaranteed a wunderbar day! ;)
This is called the 'Dutch Quarter'. They brought Dutch workers to Potsdam back in the....1700's I think. This goes as a shout-out to Jeff and Allies who both served their missions in Dutchland. (Jill wrote me an email and mentioned her brother, Jeff, and his wife, Allie, but forgot an apostrophe before the 's'. So I read 'Jeff and Allies' - I thought Jill was just being funny because Jeff's wife and his kids are definitely allies....of sorts... but I liked it and so the name stuck. So now when I refer to Jill's AZ Fambly, I say 'Jeff and Allies...(does anyone else think this is funny? ;)
This is called Alexandrovka. It is a Russian 'village' in the middle of Potsdam built in the 1820's. It's unique because apparently you can't find this type of Russian architecture in Russia anymore - ONLY in Potsdam!
The Russian Orthodox Church - during Soviet occupation the officers' wives would go to church here....
I truly felt peaceful inside...
'
I was excited to see this, Pentecost Hill, because I hadn't seen it yet.
Princess Jillian communing with her realm....
If you squint you'll be able to see the Funkturm where I live off in the distance.....oohh....oops, it's just a photo - but doesn't it 'seem' SO real that you're truly there?!!! ;)
Views of Potsdam from the top of Pentecost Hill...
The horse chestnut tree blooms look like little Christmas trees!
Again, from the top....
I loved playing along with 'Princess Jillian' too....I would hold my arm out and have Jill place her hand on mine and then in my most arrogant 'snooty' tone, we'd talk about 'the commoners' and what they were doing and how much we loved our palace, etc.
PRIDE = BAD!! ;)
Right next to Pentecost Hill was the old Jewish graveyard! What is with me? I LOVE graveyards! They're so beautiful and peaceful....
Ok, so one of my favorite things about Europe is sitting at a cafe and having a bit of something while you rest your weary, summery feet....
I thought this was cool! Look in the water of the glass....
So we made our way to Sanssouci (without cares) and Jill kept on jumping in front of the camera! I had to say 'Jill, it's NOT ALWAYS about you!'
Then she started pouting and getting teary-eyed, so I relented....
What a beautiful Jillian she is....
This is just off to the side - it just seemed totally 'Sacred Grove'ish to me....
'I AM 'WITHOUT CARES'! WHO ARE YOU?!!'
From the side....
'But Aaron, that view makes me look 'fat'!'
I hate it when my pictures 'talk back'.... ;)
The Orangerie - back in the day you were quite the 'fat cat' if you had oranges....oh what people do to show off their wealth....(where are my Gucci/RayBan/D&G sunglasses? ;)
On our way to see the other things to behold, we came across this.....this.....'CHESTER COPPERPOTT!' That's all I could think of....
Here I am applying my near-genius Mathematikal skillz in order to find out where the buried treasure is....
(Jill was laughing and laughing - I kept on saying 'see! this is what I hate! It's like in a movie! It's SO obvious that this tells us where buried treasure is, but I am too stupid to figure out where and what it is saying!!! ARGHH!!)
So, this was probably Jill's favorite part of the day....dancing on a pavillion.....
We did the waltz....I taught her a bit of a 'German' dance....and then we dipped!
...but the 'lady of the house' was none too impressed and was more like 'PUHLEEZ leave this place NOW! I'd rather read me book!'
Hmmph! Can't please everybody I guess...
And there in the distance, one of our targets for the next day: Neues Palais! This will be my THIRD attempt to get in, will it work?....hmm....
Jillian as happy as can be.... 'Yep, I could live there, Aaron. Please!'
Jill and I then spent FOREVER trying to find the 'Chinese Tea House' built by Frederick the Great....umm...I'd only been there FOUR OTHER TIMES, you'd think I'd know where I was going....but no! OH well....eventually, right?
I still like this thing....it's interesting to see what people thought China was like and what Chinese people looked like....
Ignorance is funny! Hahah....oops....sorry....
We then ended the day by seeing these 'African' statues from back in the day.....FREAKY!!
So the next day Jill bought us tickets to get into all the palaces we could go through in one day! So we went streaming through Sanssouci, Neue Kammern, the historical Windmill, and ALSO NEUES PALAIS! It was definitely cool to be there and 'odd' to know that the last German emperor also lived there! Hmm....
Here I stand guard protecting Princess Jillian's new real estate acquisition.....until I got hungry and then....
Poor Jill, what a trooper though! I think she was palaced-out by this point, but she kept on truckin' for me! This one is called Cecilienhof and this is where Truman, Stalin and Churchill/Atlee signed the Potsdam Agreement that split Germany into four zones of occupation after WWII. It was COOL to see where they had sat at the table/where it was signed! (I had been wanting to see this one for almost 2 years! Thanks Jill!)
Cecilienhof is where the German royal family lived after WWI and Germany became a republic.
Here is the inside courtyard complete with Stalin's 'star' of red flowers that he had especially put in for the Potsdam conference (I bet Churchill loved that one! :)
Au revoir, Potsdam! And thanks Jillian for being such a trooper!
