Day 9 - 8th May - Berlin
What's the deal with me waking up early everyday?!? Damn that "curse
of the morning person". Another 6am wakeup. Altho took ages to wake up
and even longer to get ready.
Hopped on a train out to Potsdam. We were originally going to walk to a couple of the closer palaces/castles and then leave again, but when we came out of the station we saw a sign that said bike hire and thought you know that's not such a silly idea. We'd be able to cover a lot more ground, our feet wouldn't end up hurting, and there's the nice fact you don't have to wear helmets in Germany, but it would make taking photos a bit more tedious. Anyways, so for 11 euro each we hired bikes and cycled all around Potsdam. And it was brilliant!!! Such a good decision. We could have gotten a commentary on stuff if we'd taken a tour, but really all that info is available on the web if we want it, and we just enjoyed the fresh air and exercise. So we had a great time.. And only a bit sunburnt heh.
So then got the train back and got off again at Wannsee to go for a swim in one of the lakes. The water was very cold so we didn't stay in for long, but it was very refreshing. A great way to cool off after all the cycling. And there was a little kiosk there so we had beers on the beach - awesome! :)
By this time it was very late, so we popped into the local supermarket to pick up some dinner, then back here to eat it and drink more beer.
Life is good :)
Hopped on a train out to Potsdam. We were originally going to walk to a couple of the closer palaces/castles and then leave again, but when we came out of the station we saw a sign that said bike hire and thought you know that's not such a silly idea. We'd be able to cover a lot more ground, our feet wouldn't end up hurting, and there's the nice fact you don't have to wear helmets in Germany, but it would make taking photos a bit more tedious. Anyways, so for 11 euro each we hired bikes and cycled all around Potsdam. And it was brilliant!!! Such a good decision. We could have gotten a commentary on stuff if we'd taken a tour, but really all that info is available on the web if we want it, and we just enjoyed the fresh air and exercise. So we had a great time.. And only a bit sunburnt heh.
Altes Rathaus - Old Town Hall
Nauener Tor
Brandenburger Tor
Schloss Sanssouci and gardens
Statue in Schloss Sanssouci
Terraces in front of Schloss Sanssouci
Terraces in front of Schloss Sanssouci
Chinese Teahouse
New Palace - east building
New Palace - west building
New Palace - east building
Orangerie Schloss
Obelisk on Schopenhauerstrasse
Cycling through Neuer Garten
Schloss Cecilienhof - site of the Potsdam Conference in 1945
Glienicker Brücke - site of several exchanges of spies during the Cold War
Glienicker Brücke
Pump House in Babelsberger Park and Glienicker Lake
Glienicker Brücke over Glienicker Lake
Babelsberg, Kleines Schloß
So then got the train back and got off again at Wannsee to go for a swim in one of the lakes. The water was very cold so we didn't stay in for long, but it was very refreshing. A great way to cool off after all the cycling. And there was a little kiosk there so we had beers on the beach - awesome! :)
Strandbad Wannsee entrance
Shade houses at Wannsee
By this time it was very late, so we popped into the local supermarket to pick up some dinner, then back here to eat it and drink more beer.
Kaiser's Verbraucher Markt - where we did several grocery trips
Life is good :)
Note: Must hire bike in Germany.
Yep ;)
Berlin is especially good because the whole area was once glacial lakes and the whole place is very flat