Potsdam, Palaces, Pee-pee Breaks, Oh My!

Better late than never for blog posts, yes?

Potsdam is a beautiful place, and the train ride there was most enjoyable. Had entertainment in the form of Carolyn waxing poetically about her hedgehog as well as the scenery on the train.

The New Palace was very impressive. Kind of bummed we weren't allowed to go in, but the architecture outside was very pretty to look at.

En route to the second of the palaces of Frederick the Great, we passed by another large classy looking building, and after successfully convincing Stefano to take a detour, we came upon the Orangerie. 

And following the interesting tidbit that that was where the royals grew their citrus, we continued on closer to Potsdam's city center.

Stefano is hilarious, and I was not at all expecting him to announce a "pee-pee break" after seeing the New Palace and the Orangerie. Also, paying for a bathroom is something I've never done, but I guess you can be sure it'll be clean that way. The traditional windmill was beautiful, and the flutist we passed wearing a French baroque outfit was pretty cool.

Following that, we went to the older of Frederick's palaces, Sans Souci, which is actually the palace he had as a child. It is very much's a boys' place, as girls weren't allowed and his wife wasn't allowed to visit it or even be buried there. Frederick was though. Him and his 11 dogs.

The really condensed story of why there are potatoes:
Frederick: "Peasants! Grow potatoes since the soil is awful here and these grow well."
Peasants: "No thanks, we're good."
Fred: "Fine. - Guards, guard a plot of potatoes."
Peasants: "It's guarded stuff. We should totally steal it."
The End

His grave had a bunch of Roman busts around it in a half-circle. Not sure why, but they look pretty.

View from the bottom looking up. In summer there's greenery all over the bars, but in winter it looks kind of like there are a bunch of little prison cells.

So from there we followed a Pepto-Bismol pink pipeline to the city center. We got about an hour and a half for lunch and exploring. I ate curry wurst for the first time, which was delicious. And then we did a little shopping too!

This was the church we met up at after lunch. It was so gorgeous on the inside, and they started organ practice while we were in there. 

Josh made a new friend in the Dutch Quarter.

After the train back to Potsdam, we broke for a while before meeting up at the Deutsches Theater to see a production of the play "Lenz." I knew absolutely nothing about the plot or background or anything. And I didn't understand 90% of what the actors said. 

But it was superb. The acting was amazing, and I was completely entranced. I tried to look up a summary of the plot later, but it was still kind of confusing. All in all, a very good day.

~Elizabeth S

Last dinner in Berlin

We have 11 euros left and are trying to avoid the ATM before going home tomorrow. Dinner for under 11?  We can do it!

Very cool website: http://www.360berlin.net/en/prenzlauer-berg-2/kastanienallee
Last minute ideas ...
Enjoy your last day!

JB

Mornings

Neither Elizabeth or I are really morning people which makes things interesting in the wake up process. 

It goes a little something like this.

However, breakfast is totally worth it!

Hamburg!

So for day 6 and 7 we went into Hamburg and stayed at a youth hostel! It took a 2 hour train ride to get there and despite it being kinda foggy the view was really interesting. Between passed out college kids and the farm land it was neat to see the transition for Berlin to the more industrial based Hamburg. So the little green thing that is going to be in some of these photos is my traveling hippo named Rupert. My friend made him for me in high school and he travels with me where ever I go!

Rupert and I waiting on the train to Hamburg with my hippo shirt on!

Rupert hanging on out the train

Sleepy roommate is sleepy

Nap time is the best time

It was interesting to see houses as we were going through because they would either be really nice and really large, or very small and shackish with a thrown  together roof. There didn't appear to be a middle ground.
The train station in Hamburg had absolutely beautiful architecture!

We took a bus tour around Hamburg to see some of the big things. 

It was really interesting but what I hadn't realized was just how much money was in Hamburg. Some of the flats started between 15,000-17,000 Euro and had no upper limit. The architecture around the entire city was absolutely beautiful!

After this we went and took a boat tour around Hamburg.

Captain Rupert Ya'll

 We sat on the outside of the boat and it was in all German so we really couldn't understand that much, but I have never seen one of those freight boats that close before. We were able to see some of the lifts working them, and also went through a canal. A lot of the shops along the water also had a spot where you could unload equipment to them from the water.

Then after this we went into the tunnel underneath the water. The city realized that instead of building a bridge over the water they could building one underneath the canal so that big boats wouldn't have to worry about a bridge, and cars and pedestrians could get across. It was really cool. However. The first time we went down we took the stairs and if you've ever seen National Treasure it was very similar to that set up. The metal stairs rounded down the side of the walls. I'm not a fan of heights, but I'm even less a fan of falling. 

A big thanks to my friends who didn't laugh at me too hard as I kept three points of contact at all times. The tunnel at the bottom was totally worth it. It was really really cool to see the elevator that lowered the cars down to the bottom.

And for those who are wondering walking back up the stairs was just as scary as walking down them. 

After this we went to the hard rock (pretty proud of my Hamburg pin) and then went back to the Hostel to get settled in.

It was like a larger, brightly colored dorm room.

It was the first time I had ever stayed in a Hostel, and it was really nice system. The only flaw is that the bathrooms are motion censored and don't pick you up if you're in the shower, so hopefully you don't shower too long! they had a really nice breakfast laid out for us in the morning before our second day of adventuring! 

We saw a lock bridge where people whisper a wish or hope then lock it up and throw the key into the river.

Past this our day was filled with churches. Honestly, a lot of the names ran together but the stained glass in all of them was gorgeous! 

Then we went to the St. Michael's Church. It was absolutely stunning. Words can't describe how beautiful and intricate it was. 

\

Please take into account the back bend I did to get this picture.

Later that day we also saw a flash mob which was really awesome to watch!

Hamburg was a great city, but I am glad to be finishing our trip off in Berlin where I can catch up on the sights I wanted to see.

It also isn't right on the water, therefore less cold.

-C

Dear students!

I love reading your posts!
Jon and I wanted to venture out and go to the Liquidrom, a spa in Kreuzberg, but then I read some bad reviews, so we opted to stay here near the hotel and went out for Turkish food. Pretty tasty. It is amazing how much I can eat here, especially after the huge lunch I had with Stefano (an all you can eat breakfast buffet - I now have an official fat roll from Berlin, thanks!).

I hope you had time and energy to prepare food for your host families.

We will meet Tuesday at 8.00 at Tegel airport. If you go to Zoologischer Garten (U Bahn stop), there are two buses going straight to the airport. Tegel is rather small, so I am sure after navigating the biggest cities in Germany, you'll be able to find us at the smallest airport we'll frequent during our trip!

You all did very well on this trip. I very much enjoyed your excitement and all your questions and contributions. Don't look for your passports - we have them and will bring them to the airport. Ask your host families how to get to the airport - most of them will not be able to bring you since it's a work day.

Have a fabulous Monday without me. Blog if you need me, my cell is: 00447515079631.

Keep the posts and pictures coming!

Best,
JB

Quiet night in from the rain and wind

Today was a fun day of walking in the park and doing some shopping.  But we are staying in for some games...we bought two new ones as souvenirs:

We also got some pizza to go for our cozy hotel dinner:

Tomorrow is our last day!!