Sunday, Sept. 13 in Potsdam

Potsdam is unique for many reasons, not the least of which is that the meeting at the end of WWII, with Churchill, Truman, and Stalin was held here. Potsdam itself was another city divided by the war, with fence right through the river nearby. This was the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm, built in the English country house style between 1914 and 1917. The red geraniums with blue hydrangeas were planted specifically for this conference, and so remain as a historic symbol in themselves.


The gardens all around Schloss Cecilienhof were beautiful; look at how neatly all these little plants are laid out!! I also enjoyed all the topiary.

Friedrich II died in 1786, and he is buried here under the slab farthest away. His coffin was carried all around Europe during the war in order to protect it from being bombed. He was known for bringing the planting of potatoes to Germany, so people leave actual potatoes on top of the slab! Reminds me of Jewish people leaving stones. All these other slabs are over the bodies of his dogs!! He had left orders for him to be buried quietly, at midnight, with the bodies of his dogs. After his coffin's European tour, he was again buried at midnight, with a single white flower left on his stone. He despised his wife and forbid her to live in this house, and loved his greyhounds....

There is a palace complex here and in Babelsberg, with several small buildings built expressly to be used for dinners and parties because of the views---Belvedere---pretty view. This is a picture of the New Palace in Schloss Sanssouci, (Sans Souci" means without care) built between 1763 and 1769 by Friedrich II. This palace has over 300 rooms. His main purpose was to create jobs and generate work for the building industry that had been devastated by 3 wars. He wanted to "turn his back" on Berlin. Friedrich Wilhelm IV made major additions to the park; it is 740 acres and one of the most beautiful palaces and parks in all of Europe.

We had several "pauses" (pronounced powsus) on the way home, mainly as required by law for the bus driver. There was a circular paper he had to enter into the dashboard, and it apparently recorded speed, time stopped, etc. Only 40 minutes from home, we had to stop for a 20 minute break! When we finally got to Bielefeld and the university, I carried Brandi off the bus in her carrier, and left her in it on the u-bahn to my stop, Siegfriedplatz, which is the stop I use between here and the university. At that point, I took her out of the carrier and walked her home on her leash. Nothing particular happened until we hit the far corner of this block. I hadn't realized that she'd never been to that u-bahn stop, but when we hit the corner of this block, it was like holding a horse heading for the barn. Who knew a 7 pound chihuahua could almost pull me up the hill? She ate her supper and put herself to bed!