A Plethora of Palaces in Potsdam

Another set of meetings for Henry generally means another trip for me. Although I initially thought that Potsdam would not offer enough to keep me occupied for two full days, I apologize to whomever I might have offended by such a thought. I did not realize that Potsdam is home to a plethora of palaces, as well as a plethora of parkland. The parks are largely the remains of the grand estates on which the grand and mini (but equally grand) palaces sit. To start my tour, I opted for the four-hour boat ride along the Potsdam waterways. I had no idea there was so much water in and around the city. I could see from my map that we traveled along a canal for part of the round trip around what is now a large "island" on which Potsdam is situated. Unfortunately, since I was unable to understand the German commentary provided via loudspeakers, I did not learn whether the numerous connected lakes on which we also traveled are naturally connected or are the result of dams or other man-made canals. Nevertheless, the scenery spoke for itself, and I was able to view it in its best light--abundant sun light!

The boat ride took us by a number of castles/palaces. There's nothing like having a modest (NOT) summer house overlooking a lake. It is quite amazing how little expense was spared in the buildings, inside and out, as well as the surrounding gardens. After World War II, the Soviets (Potsdam was in the former DDR) removed many of the palaces' treasures, and used some of the buildings as administrative offices and officers' clubs. By the time renovation and restoration activities began for turning these palaces into museums, some of the treasures had "disappeared" while in Soviet storage. Although much has been restored, work continues, not only on the palaces, but on other public buildings and churches. I watched as one worker painstakingly cut pieces of tile and laid them one by one to match up with areas where floor tiles were missing. The Church of St. Nicholas, whose large central dome was bombed out during World War II, now sports a dome matching the original, but the building remains scaffolded as more work is done.

Wasting no time after the boat docked, I went to the New Garden, where the Cecilienof Palace is located. This is the palace where the "big three" powers (United States, Great Britain, and USSR) met in July-August 1945, to follow up on the Yalta conference held in February 1945. Germany was divided and borders were reset, but by the end of July 1945, Stalin held the advantage. I was reminded that he was the only one of the three leaders present at Yalta who remained through the entire Potsdam conference--Roosevelt died in April 1945 and Churchill had the misfortune of being voted out of power just one week into the Potsdam conference. Despite apparent promises for democratic elections, the USSR proceeded to solidify its hold over the Soviet Bloc.

Down the lake a piece (well, same park, but maybe a different lake), King Frederick William II decided he "needed" to build a modest summer residence, which became known as the Marble Palace. Surprise, surprise, the palace is chock full of marble, both inside and out. Also, I believe I now have at least a bit more understanding of "neoclassical" style.

The evening was topped off with a gathering of Henry and his meeting-mates at Albert Einstein's summer home, in Caputh, just a few minutes south of Potsdam. The home was built in wood (rather than the more common stucco) to Einstein's specifications. His tiny bedroom doubled as his office, and to my own personal taste, it appeared cramped, dark, and drab. But, genius emanates from individuals who work most effectively where they are most comfortable. Einstein could also walk to the lake (yes, another lake, south of the New Garden), and engage in one of his true loves--sailing.

The following day, I tackled Sanssouci Park, starting from Schloss Sanssouci and moving on to the various "out buildings" speckled around the huge park. Sanssouci was Frederich II's summer palace, a mere 12 rooms, but they are exquisite. Although not as well known as the Sanssouci Palace, the New Palace, built by Frederick the Great, sits at the opposite end of the park and has over 300 rooms! One of the more memorable rooms is the Grotto Hall, which is a large, domed hall decorated with designs made of real shells. One of Frederick the Great's successors "improved" the hall by inserting minerals in place of some of the shells. Either way, it was not at all to my taste! Although the New Palace is many times larger than Sanssouci, its surrounding gardens do not hold a candle to Sanssouci's terraced gardens, which reach down to a lovely fountain. With an "all the palaces/monuments/"out" buildings you can find time to visit in a single day" ticket, I pretty much "hit for the cycle" (baseball fans will understand) in Sanssouci Park. Other highlights included Charlottenhof Palace, Orangery Palace (great view of the park from the palace's tower), New Chambers (for royal guests), Chinese House (cute, little, two-story circular building, decorated in Chinese style), and the Historic Windmill (offers another good view, as long as I did not look down through the open and creaking slats of the deck flooring around the top floor of the windmill).

I still missed out on visiting other parks and palaces in Potsdam, but now I have reasons to return there. I would also return to Restaurant Juliette, another Micheline Red Guide find. Contrary to my pre-trip expectation that I would be spending a day in Berlin, Berlin will have to wait--but not too long! Two trips to Berlin are already on this summer's schedule.

We arrived back in Munich with enough time for me to do laundry and pack up for our next trip--to the Netherlands. In between, I also went to the newly opened (May 21st) Brandhorst Museum which was offering free entrance for the first four days. My visit confirmed, again, my lack of interest in most modern art. I simply could not understand other people's fascination with Cy Twombly's 12-painting opus recalling the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 (the Venetian/Papal/Spanish alliance defeated the Ottomon Empire in a bloody sea battle). One huge room was dedicated to this single work, which to me looked like scribble and dripping paint. Religious themes aside, I prefer the "Old Masters" any day. No wonder I enjoyed my romp through Amsterdam's famous Rijksmuseum (see my next blog!).

I felt like I was dating myself (but thankfully still not feeling my age), when Henry and I participated in Die Lange Nacht der Musik (The Long Night of Music) last Saturday night. Munich has a wonderful program in which on a single night, from 8PM until 3AM, about 100 venues hold a total of about 400 concerts. Tickets for the entire night cost 15 euros--this includes as many performances as you want and are able to get to, and regular shuttles buses on four different routes throughout the city. The music ranged from Classical to Klezmer, Opera to Salsa, and Rock to Gospel, to mention just a few. We started out in our home area of Schwabing, then extended our range to find music that was not so deafening. As it turned out, most of the offerings in Schwabing catered to the "younger" crowd--some of the songs were old favorites of mine (yes, I am a Neil Diamond fan), but not at the decibels performed. Nevertheless, I did get a kick out of some of the German accented singing, e.g., "When I vas seventeen, it vas a very good year . . . ." We ended our tour with a delightful sax and bass guitar jazz combo. The evening is a great idea--I wonder whether it would work in New York. I read that Munich also has a long night of museums later in the year. Unfortunately, it is scheduled after we complete our Munich sojourn.

Our weekend also included a short trip to Murnau and the Staffelsee, about one hour by train from Munich. There was nothing earth shattering about the trip--it was just a very nice, pleasant, little journey to a town at the south end of the lake, from which we took a 40-minute boat ride to Uffing, at the north end of the lake, where we had an excellent lunch at the Alpenblick Restaurant (not in the Michelin Red Guide, but still very good), and then walked to the train station in Uffing for our return to Munich. No car, lots of sunshine, mild temperatures, good company, good relaxation, pretty scenery, good food (and I didn't have to cook), and an all around good time.