Category — Germany

The most famous palace in Berlin

does not lie in Berlin. But in Potsdam, but nobody worries, no matter how persistently it rains - maybe because Potsdam is the former capital of the Prussian empire, or maybe because the palace is called Sans Souci, i.e. “no worry”.

Built by Friederich 2nd, a.k.a. The Great, a.k.a. Old Fritz, built this summer residence, of course with terraces

and an orangery

a Chinese house

and other stuff, culminating with another, larger, palace at the other end of the garden

The interiors are stunningly rococo, unfortunately no pictures allowed.

Before leaving we went to see Cecilienhof, the place where the 3 little… hm, personalities, Truman, Churchill and Stalin signed the “Treaty on Germany” in 1945. We were awaiting some more rococo, but stumbled upon a british-style old mansion!

Cool, they withdrew here, far from the rizzrazz, to be able to chat unbothered.

Day ended in Spandau, a small suburb of Berlin, which kept some of its medievalbohemian air.

Architecture is not the thing that knocked me out in Berlin. Probably the most historically battered big metropolis of the Western World is a relatively chaotic mix of styles, mostly modern and… construction site-ish, with oasis of old buildings in-between.

What makes Berlin special though can hardly be captured in pictures. It is in the air, in the people, in their minds. The atmosphere, spirit, life which pulsates from every corner. Maybe because of so many hardships, some lasting till very recently, Berlin feels a city ALIVE, with capital A, L, I, V and E.

Our walk started at the Alexanderplatz, whith the World Clock

and, of course, the television tower, second highest in Europe. Compare with the church tower to its left…

Before seeing the Dome, we stopped for the Neptune fountain in front of the red City Hall

and then saw the Dome, on the river banks - what river crosses Berlin?

The Spree.

Inside, the Dome is even more spectacular, both upstairs

and downstairs.

Outside, relaxation,

totally.

We then finally reached a “classical” point, Unter den Linden. The Berlinese Champs Elysees is not as large, but chic.

and ends with an equally symbolic construction, the Brandenburg Gate.

From there, on to the Reichstag, the Parliament,

which you can visit for free for a rainy panorama

from the pantheon-style (but modern) dome

The Holocaust Memorial is in controversy for its weird style,

But I liked it. It is absurd, which fits.

Gendarmenmarkt is one of the nicest squares in Berlin. Especially cool the two domes, one for Germans,

one for Hugenottes

Potsdamer Platz is where we entered a different era. The Wall era. Few pieces are left over from the wall, some here

and in the meantime they are fixing several “memorial centres”

One of the important ones is Checkpoint Charlie, one of the 7 border crossings between East and West Berlin.

Before 1961 it looked like this,

today it looks like this

This is the best way to learn history. First you learn in school, but then visit the place, to be able to feel what must have been going on.

Now i wonder - how was this possible?!? And then I remember that not too long ago, the concept of “east and west berlin” was very “normal” to me. And that scares me - people forgetting so easily, this makes all sorts of horrors to be able to happen again, and again…

I first heard the words below in a music clip. Now i understand them much better.

When saying “Würzburg”, I had absolutely no image forming in my head. Nothin. Emptyness. Grey spot. Not even blank, grey – no idea why.

Well, it was a very pleasant surprise. The first sight after emerging from the underground parking lot was this church

in this square

from where I randomly walked along this road

and then this road,

all very cozy, very colorful, but laid back, just like these people must feel enjoying a sunny day.

Stolen by the atmosphere, I got lost. Time for a map – asked for one at the first hotel I saw, and a kind gentleman gave it to me for free – getting a grip, I soon found the Residenz, apparently the largest palace in Germany, a UNESCO monument.

Monumental indeed, with a nice garden around it.

That being ticked, on to the next objective, fortress Marienberg – but on the way, time for a quick look inside the dome, where this interesting… candled ornament was posted at the entrance. To me it looks Hannukah-like.

Moving on, got to the river (Main), and to the fortress

which I admired only from downstairs, from the impressive Alte Mainbrueke – it was already too late to climb up.

On the way back

there was still time to discover some randomly spectacular church

and the famous university

The town impressed me a lot. It is accidentally beautiful in the sense that no matter where you go, you can accidentally find something to please your eye. Speaking of which, I found a suspect agglomeration of aesthetically pleasing-looking young ladies. Felt like in Romania. Probably the huge University is the key.

What stands for sure is that the grey spot for “Würzburg” is gone from my mind, with plenty of things on stock to replace it.

With that, on to the next planned stop, Leipzig.

I heard about Hechingen from Ms. S and Mr. N, our hosts in München, who described it as an insider tip - the most famous Hohenzollern castle is at Sigmaringen, but this one, at Hechingen, is a hidden gem.

And when I saw it from far away

it reminded me of a book with germanic fairytales from when i was a kid, where they were talking about a dark count of Zollern.

And indeed, i was to find out that this hill was called Zollern hill, and at its top

was the impressive Hohenzollern burg, site of origin for the famous royal family of Hohenzollern.

Walked up on a steep path with a green sealing

to finally get to the fortress gate.

To get to the courtyard you had to pass through a spiraled way guarded by a tall wall

and then through a tunnel

where you could see stuff like this through the windows

and bang, the main courtyard

of course featuring a canon, skillfully operated by a brave warrior.

Did the fortress tour, guided, unfortunately no pictures. Pretty neat. One of the highlights was the family tree right at the beginning, featuring Carol I, Carol II, Ferdinand I and Michael I of Romania - the kings of Romania between 1881 and 1947 were from the Hohenzollern family.

After the tour, i checked out the dungeons (is this the word?), where you can see the rock which the foundation was built on, and some cool corridors.

Out in the sun again, i enjoyed a traditional german gourmet meal - sausage and french fries, and, after a last look at Svabia extending beautifully in front of our eyes,

I left.

Since i was already at the airport, i thought of taking a quick look at the city. Asked Jane to take me to the centre, some parking closeby. And I emerged on the surface directly in the Schillerplatz, lively on a Sunday fresh fruit market.

The big church on the left turned out to be the cathedral

Wanted to get in, but it was opening only at 10, it was only half past 9, so i went on looking for the “centre”. Turned out i was right next to the big square with the 2 palaces, the new (big one in front) and old (just a part is seen, on the right).

Went inside the old one, has a cool court

Back to the main square

i played a bit with some aquatic photos

and turned back to Schillerplatz

from where i suddenly felt like cherries. Mmmm. There was a fountain close to the church, perfect for washing and enjoying the cherries

before moving on to the next objective of the day. But about that, in the next episode.

On the way from Stuttgart to München we stopped in Ulm.
I knew there’s something about the church (Münster) in Ulm, but didn’t quite know what it was. On a first impression, it is tall,

very tall.

Wikipedia told us that it actually has the highest church tower in the world. (!). This one:

Satisfied, we decided to also stop in Augsburg. Walking underneath archades

we reached the City Hall square,

where the atmosphere was relaxed,

in spite of the fact that the statue of the Roman Emperor Augustus kept trying to touch the tower.

He founded the city, in the year 52 B.C., hence the statue.

Then we left.