It was quite the contrast to our day yesterday in Postdam, which is a little under 3 hours from Celle near Berlin. Sean and I, Jo, her parents Chris and Carol, her siblings Audrey and Colja and her boyfriend Paul visited the Sanssouci castle, which is the summer pleasure of Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia. It was built in 1745. We went on an audiotour and visited the various rooms and learned about the history. We toured part of the gardens in the beautiful sunshine up to the Chinese tea house, which was designed between 1755 and 1764. Afterwards, we drove to Glienicker Bridge, which was the subject for the movie Bridge of Spies. We then visited friends of Chris and Carol for a delicious dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. It was a little strange to hear German at an Italian restaurant, though I suppose it's no stranger than hearing English at an Italian restaurant!
Unfortunately Paul and Audrey had to work so they returned to Celle right after dinner. We arrived in Berlin later last night, and started the day off early this morning. We first took in a boat tour of the city, learning more about East and West Germany and the importance of different buildings and bridges. Fun fact about Germany: it has more bridges than Venice and is one of the largest European cities in terms of the amount of area it covers. We then walked around the city and saw what's left of the wall. We also visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which covers 200,000 square feet covered with 2,711 concrete slabs arranged on a grid pattern on a field that slopes as you continue to walk down, where the slabs get taller and taller (Sean said that he was tall so would be easy to find. It didn't take long for him to be out of sight!)
We went on a guided tour of the Reichstag, where the German Parliament is housed. It was built in 1894, but it was severely damaged in 1933. It was rebuilt in the 1960s but didn't start being used until the 1990s. The dome where we walked to the top was finished in 1999. While walking around we noticed a number of parts of the street were closed. It turns out its the celebration for Germany's national holiday on October 3rd. Right by the Reichstag and also near our hotel part of the park was closed off for the party leading up to the holiday. The park was separated into various parts of Germany, so it was like visiting different parts of Germany without leaving Berlin! I also discovered glühwein, which we call mulled wine. I am looking forward to making that this winter! I found a great slow cooker recipe too!
Here are some photos from the last two days!
The castle at Sanssouci
Our beautiful international family in the Sanssouci park:
Chinese tea house in the park
Just outside the Brandburg gate, which divided East and West Germany. It was here that on June 12, 1987, Ronald Regan issued his command to his cold war adversary: "Mr. Gorbachov – tear down this wall!".
At the top of the Reichstag dome just before it started to rain
Right after our tour and on our way to the German holiday celebration
Jo and I catching a photo with the beautiful sunset:
Tomorrow we head back to Celle to relax for a couple days. It's been so amazing to spend time with Jo and her awesome, warm, welcoming family! We are having such a wonderful time on our trip! ❤️
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