Sans souci

Without a care in the world, my rough translation of sans souci. And, without a care in the world is how we spent our last day in Berlin. Well I guess technically Potsdam is a separate city, but really the 45 mins on the train from the centre of Berlin doesn't feel that far away. Its strangely reminiscent of Versailles, in that there is some obscenely large palaces, amazing grounds, stunning rooms filled with gold leaf, and all the stuff classical monarchs used to keep themselves amused.

We walked, we talked, we drank coffee and all in all it was a great day away from the hustle and bustle of a big city. The sans souci palace itself is well worth a look around, and the grounds are amazing. 270 hectares or something like that filled with other palaces, follies, trees, moats, killer dragons and celebrities. Well maybe not all that stuff, but in some ways its better than Versailles. The park is free, there are less mad tourists (although that could've been the sub-arctic temperatures) and best of all there are reasonably priced coffee shops in the middle. Sweet, the town of Potsdam is not all bad either. Some great german food was had for a very reasonable price in the dutch quarter and the hispanic quarter was filled with tequila bars, oh yeah.

Here are some random photos of the vicinty!




Potsdam town

Ausstieg Links

Aaah, the trains in Berlin constantly remind me of a windswept Scottish golf course with their cries of ausstieg links. Sure it might mean exit left, but in reality its saying head back to the links, you know you want to.

The weather decided to be reminiscent of scotland so our day spent wandering around the western part of the city was more cold, rainy and windswept then it should've been. Sure we did see a movie being made, and went to a flea market filled with thousands of door handles from the 70s but our adventures were curtailed by the icelandic breeze coming in off them thar hills. Soooo off to the pergamon museum for some amazing artifacts from the middle eastern world. Sure the germans may have borrowed a lot of the artifacts and some of the countries might want them back, but that's no different to any colonial power. The british museum is getting a lot of pressure to return its egyptian collection too.

The next day dawned with the prospect of a visit to the stasi headquarters. Not because we'd been taken in for questioning but to practice our german with the entirely german displays. Luckily Malte provided a good translation service so we could understand all about the briefcases with guns hidden in them, watches with microphones and rocks with hidden transmitters. But it wasn't just technology, there was a collection of historical propaganda and articles that proved very interesting indeed.

A quick stop at a very local Berlin pub for some fine wheat beers was the perfect end to a very interesting day. Oh yeah, we had coffee with Jamie Lee-Curtis in an exclusive berlin cafe too, well we sat near her, and subtly mocked her accent anyway. Plus we may have been in the background of the movie been shot eating some fine kebabs, so all in all a pretty successful day.

Berlin, home of the superdome and trabants!

Yes, top of the Reichstag is a dome, and its a fancy glass dome made of mirrors and magic and dust. We queued for a couple of hours in the freezing cold before being allowed into the chamber. Comrades, what a view, Berlin stretches out below you like a schnitzel on a plate of sauerkraut. Plus it was free, which is always an added bonus when you are travelling on a budget. Nearby was the holocaust memorial which to my eye looked like thousands of coffins spread out across a field in a dull grey tone. It certainly made you think about the scale of the tragedy that had occurred.

Next we visited the wall, the real one, from the movies and the split of east and west. Encircling west berlin the remaining sections of the wall are few and far between as most was pulled down very quickly after reunification. The largest chunk is nearby to checkpoint charlie, where the american sector used to begin.

On our way around the wall there was a trabant for hire, then quickly we realised there was a whole yard full of trabants for hire! Their bonnets are made from resin, their engines make 20 bhp and they can do 6 hectares on a full tank of kerosene. Amazing little cars that were dolled out to the populace of the east for informing on other members of the community. Of course, I'm capitalist scum so was unable to fit very easily into a car clearly designed with comfort in mind (for midgets anyway).

We also took a tour of the checkpoint charlie museum, which is largely filled with amazing escape stories from east to west. People building their own planes, hiding in suitcases, cars, ships, canoes and all other kinds of transport. The museum appeared to have been largely undisturbed since the fall of the wall and seems to serve as a sort of interesting record of the events around the wall. Well worth a visit and the nearby Kruezburg district also provided some cheap beers and cocktails afterwards, sweet.

Berlin, home of the berliner (not a sausage)

Sausages are available all over Berlin. Mostly bratwurst, or the local delicacy currywurst, which is bratwurst covered in curry and spicy sauce. They were pretty tasty, but in reality the best thing about Berlin was the beer. Mmmmmm wheat beer for only a few euros in every pub, it was the perfect partner for a breakfast, lunch or dinner.

So what kind of stuff happened while we were there. Well we met up with Malte, our fine german friend who had foolishly agreed to show us around the city. First day we headed into the Brandenburg gate which many people thought they would never walk through as it was in the forbidden area around the wall until 1989. We also wandered down the main drag to check out the collection of large museums and cool architecture that inhabited the eastern side of the city. As you head further east you begin to see some of the tower style blocks that dominated the eastern part of the city during the GDR days. Its almost like stepping back in time in places and although its only back to the 70s, its quite a strange feeling in a city that is so modern in many other ways. As we headed to Alexanderplatz we were distracted by some large supermarkets selling nothing but cans of sausages so we grabbed a few and enjoyed a fine tinned sausage. Also stacking the shelves were thousands of kilos of chocolate. The place is literally swimming in it, they don't call it the land of chocolate for nothing!