Last days of Berlin and our move to Potsdam

We promised not to get behind in the blog but our days are so busy it is difficult to do daily posting.  Let’s see where we left off.

We stayed in Berlin two more days.  Unfortunately Nancy was sick on Monday and stayed in the hotel.  Since she is writing the blog, Monday will just be some picture highlights.  Basically the group went to the New and Old History Museum and the Dutsches Historisches Musem.  Here are some of the pictures that Jack took:

 For the last day we were in Berlin, we went to see the Berlin Wall and museum.

We finished our last day with a boat ride on the Spree River that flows through Berlin.  Along the banks of the river, there are areas designated for graffiti and temporary “clubs” for entertaining young people.

Now we are off to Potsdam, Germany.  Potsdam is famous for being the summer palace of Frederick the Great and for being the site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference.  Along the way, we stopped at a bridge that divided East and West Germany.  This is where they did prisoner exchanges for people like Gary Powers an American spy pilot was shot down over Soviet territory in a U-2 plan.  All along the river bank were 10 foot high walls during this time.

Then off to see Frederick the Great’s summer home which is San Souci Palace.  It was built in 1745.  Frederick was a “Renaissance Man” who loved to read and listen to music.  He was a liberal and far-sighted ruler.  Voltaire frequently sojourned to Sans Souci with Frederick.  The palace is Rococo and Baroque combination.  The palace property was about 2 miles by 2 miles and it seemed like we walked every inch of the property.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside so here are some outside pictures (Note: the terraces going up to the palace had hot house built into the hillside so they could grow flowers and vegetables long after the season ended):

Next was the tour of the Hotel Relexa Scholsshotel Cecilienhof which was the site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference.  This was the old summer home of the remnants of the Hohenzollern Family.  After WWI, they lived here until February 1945.  After WWII, they dispersed.  Here, Churchill, Stalin and Truman met to plan post WWII Europe.  During the Conference, Churchill went home for an election---expecting a huge victory from a grateful British people.  Incredibly, he was defeated and Clement Attlee came back to the Conference to replace him.  This greatly puzzled and amused Stalin.

Here are Ken and Trish Sutton who have been friends of Jack’s for years and our new friend Jean Courtney.  They all have people following this blog so I thought you would enjoy seeing pictures of them.

Moving on to Rome and we will start a new blog tomorrow about this incredible city.

Jack and Nancy