Driving to Potsdam

This afternoon, we had an optional tour to Potsdam, about 17 miles (27.3 km) from Berlin, to visit the Cecilienhof Palace where the Potsdam Conference was held in 1945 and also to visit Sanssouci Palace. Photo: Bridge into Potsdam.

Potsdam

On the street leading to the Cecilienhof Palace were a row of mansions that are being renovated after suffering damage and neglect after WWII. One of the renovated mansions.

Potsdam

Not a mansion, but an interesting house along this road.

Potsdam

Another renovated mansion.

Potsdam

A whole street, on both sides,  of beautiful houses, no two alike or of the same style.

Potsdam

And a smaller one.

Cecilienhof Palace

The Potsdam Conference was held from July 16 to August 2, 1945 here at Cecilienhof Palace. The palace was built for Crown Price Wilhelm and his wife Cecilie to look like an English manor house.

Cecilienhof Palace

Prince Wilhelm (1881–1951) and his wife Cecilie (1886–1954).

Cecilienhof Palace

Through the archway.

Cecilienhof Palace

The star of red geraniums framed with blue hydrangeas (I don’t think the hydrangeas have bloomed yet) was planted July 1945 for the upcoming conference here of the Big Three: Churchill, Truman, and Stalin.

The Big Three

England, the United States, and Russia: Churchill, Truman, and Stalin.

Inside the Palace

Most of the palace’s furniture was removed for the conference and desks, chairs, etc., were brought in and this furniture remains. We were shown three studies, two I know were Churchill’s and Truman’s, but I missed hearing whose study this was, so it could be  Stalin’s.

Inside the Palace

A tiled fireplace was in this room.

Inside the Palace

More of the room and its leaded windows.

Inside the Palace

View of the grounds through a window.

Inside the Palace

A sitting room.

Inside the Palace

Its beautiful wood floor.

The Conference Room

The room in which the Potsdam Conference was held. The Big Three gathered to decide what punishment to administer to Nazi Germany and how to restore postwar order. By the time of the conference, the Russian army was already in control of the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania and soon gained control of East Germany. All these countries became Soviet satellite states.

The Conference Room

Photo of the actual conference.

The Conference Room

Flags of England, Russia, and the United States on the wall.

The Conference Room

Another photo of Stalin, Truman, and Churchill.

The Conference Room

The conference room’s ceiling.

Truman’s Study

Truman’s study was right next to the conference room.

Truman’s Study

More of Truman’s study.

Churchill’s Study

Our tour guide told us that Churchill couldn’t fit into this desk chair.

Churchill’s Study

So he was said to have sat on this couch instead with a painting of a very large dog above the couch.

Churchill’s Study

The dog painting.

In the Palace

A display of models of East German cars.

In the Palace

Remnants of the Berlin Wall.

Looking Through a Window

Looking through a palace window at the outside of the palace.

Looking Through an Archway

We are now outside the palace. Photo: Looking through an archway to the front entrance to the palace.

Looking Through an Archway

Looking through another archway.

More of the Outside of the Palace

The outside of the palace. It was quite big.

The Palace Gardens

We were next given a tour of the palace gardens.

The Palace Gardens

More of the gardens.

The Palace Gardens

Tulips were in bloom.

The Palace Gardens

I thought this was a very nice garden arrangement with the flower beds surrounding the grass area.

The Palace Gardens

A beautiful tree in the garden. We left the Cecilienhof Palace to drive to the Sanssouci Palace, which is also in Potsdam.

Sanssouci Palace

An old windmill before the uphill walk to the palace.

Sanssouci Palace

Sanssouci Palace was built and personally designed as a summer residence by Frederich the Great in 1744. The Rococo palace surprisingly has only 12 rooms, but each is beautiful. Sans souci means “without worry” in French and this is where Frederich the Great left his worries behind.

Sanssouci Palace

A gazebo in front of the palace.

Sanssouci Palace

A longer view of the one–story palace. I had a strange feeling of being here before but I know I had never been in East Germany before this trip. There must be another palace somewhere very similar to this one that I have visited.

Sanssouci Palace

Close–up of some of the sculpture on the palace.

Sanssouci Palace

More of the front of the palace.

Sanssouci Palace

The dome.

Sanssouci Palace

Another gazebo. We were about here when it started to lightly rain, but we were close to where we would enter the palace.

Sanssouci Palace

A view of the grounds behind the palace in what is Sanssouci Park, which has other palaces and buildings on its grounds. We were given a tour of the palace but no photos were allowed. Each room was exquisite and each different from each other.

Sanssouci Palace

There was a gift shop outside the palace where I assume you could buy postcards or a booklet showing the inside of the palace, but it was heavily raining when we got outside along with thunder and lightning––and we had a long walk back to the bus along tree–shaded walks. I was trying to get my nerve up to walk back to the bus, first walking through the structure in the photo and then out in the open and I forgot to go to the gift shop to find some photos of the inside of the palace. The only ones I could find on the Internet are on the following site:

http://www.historicgermany.com/3338.html

Hard Rock Cafe

By the time we all got back to the bus, it had stopped raining. We drove back to Berlin and it looked safe to go out to the Kurfurstendamm for dinner, to which we could walk to from our hotel. Our tour included breakfast every day and some dinners––tonight’s dinner wasn’t included. Deanna, Sarah, and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe––always good to have a little bit of home when you are in a foreign country.

Hard Rock Cafe

This Hard Rock Cafe should be renamed the Light Rock Cafe––only light rock was playing and only very low. I asked the waiter about this and he said that too many people complained if the music was too loud, so they decided to tone it down. A bit disappointing even though I don’t like hard rock, but I expected this place to be blaring in sound. We all had very good hamburgers and I had a beer as well. I had beer almost every night for dinner on my trip even though I don’t drink beer when I am home––when in beer country…. The beer here, of course, is very good. It was pouring again when we finished our meal, along with more thunder and lightning and I had left my umbrella inadvertently on the bus. But by the time I had finished shopping at the Hard Rock Store and Deanna and Sarah came back from some other shopping, the rain had stopped but not the thunder and lightning and we walked back to the hotel with me somewhat freaked out having to walk back with the sky so threatening.