Grunewald - Into a suburb.

On a pleasant sunny day we decided to have a morning walk in Grunewald.

We took the S7 out to this "suburban" neighborhood. We were surprised when we got off the train to learn that this was one of the three deportation station used by the Nazis in Berlin to send the unfortunates to work, concentration, and death camps.  There were commemorative memorials here, as there are all around Berlin.  This one was in both German and English.

Grunewald was built in the 1930s after the swamps were drained. They made some pleasant little lakes from the water drained from the swamps.

It is now a very pleasant tree lined residential neighborhood with some impressive traditional house style. Due to being built in Berlin in the 30's there are quite a few very nice houses in the Bauhaus style. Here are some we liked regardless of style (some very large houses/apartment buildings were behind walls with lots of trees, so sorry no pictures).

With it's fresh new paint  and the bright sun couldn't resist taking a picture, and  it is unencumbered by wall or trees. 

This is an institute for advanced studies and this wall is actually  a wave.

Couldn't resist this with the classic columns and bright red paint. I guess that it's sort of  Roman.

This was a fairly plain apartment building with these  colored decks,  as  we were getting into a  commercial area.

We came out on Kurfursten Strasse, which runs back towards the center of town, and this.

Potsdam - Perfectly Charming

Our exchange hosts told us we had to see Potsdam, especially the Sanssouci Park and Palace It was created in the mid 1700's by King Frederick to spice up the bored lives of Prussian royalty.  It is definitely a town and huge park for walking, so we waited for a beautiful sunny day.  Turns out Berlin's amazing S and U-bahn systems extend the 20km to Potsdam.  So we hopped on the S7 line and arrived there in about 45 minutes, no driving, no parking, no hassle.

Potsdam is  a perfectly charming little town, with its handsomely restored buildings

And it has in the old square some very nice buildings and an obelisk, which on a nice sunny day made for excessive picture taking

The dome of the above Nikolai-Kirche was very nice, if you like perfect symmetry.

Dome frescoe 

Almost everything looks to be under construction, under reconstruction or has just been finished.   We didn't get to see the Landtag, the City Palace, because it was totally masked for renovation. But the old Royal stables, now the Film Museum was all sparkly.

Park Sanssouci is vast, about a 40 minute walk end to end.  We spent about three and a half hours wandering around.  One begins by walking up a lovely tree lined road

passing the Peace Church 

A very serene place.

Further up the road you got your nice villa.

Bit just around the corner is the piece de resistance,

These landscaped terraces are really terrific, as are the statues that surround the fountain.

There was a lovely, I guess it is a gazebo to the right of the palace for the royals summertime dalliance. 

The place on a sunny day was showing its assets at their best.  

It certainly seems to fulfill King Frederick's need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the Berlin court. The palace's name emphasizes this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), "without concerns",or "carefree".  (We are sure the hard working subjects were happy knowing their King could relax properly.)

Other attractions in the park are the L'Orangerie

even better from below.

and the sun light provided this added cheap little thrill.

At the far end of the park is the new Sanssouci Palace. I guess these royals tired of a palace quickly, as it was built only 20 years after the old Palace.  Just tax the peasants a bit more and you can have another monument to your glory, and a tourist destination for generations to come.

Oops here is where Paul finds out his lens has been scratched.

Heading back we were in for another great site, Chinesisches Haus, below.

Heading back into town, slightly chilled from the cool winds, we were lucky to come across a cozy little cafe for tea, espresso and a nice cherry cake. The place was put together with a lot of care, antiques and little lamps with fringe. Very sweet. 

Back through town, we came across a startling sight.  Paul couldn't get his camera out in time  to get this mom from the front, but the rear view will give you an idea

She was in all black leather with her face covered by a white veil.; were we in Potsdam or SoHo? 

We were brought back to reality by the St Peter and Paul's Church -really impressive brick details as with many large older buildings.  Employment for lots of craftsmen.  .

Then back to our S-bahn train home and a very nice dinner at Noto (North of Torstrasse, everyone has their cute abbreviations); stand out dishes: cream of celery soup with suckling pig cheeks, and veal ribs.

Dresden

We had to see Dresden, called "the Florence of the North" in the 18th Century, nearly totally destroyed by the WWII fire-bombing, and rebuilt to be named a Unesco World Heritage site.  Unprepared with maps or guidebook, we signed up for a walking tour of Dresden which included the bus ride of about 200 km from Berlin. The English and Hebrew guides were very good; but if we had do-overs, we would buy a guidebook and drive there ourselves so there'd be more time to wander around town.  

The classic photos of the palaces, churches, etc can be found on the  internet; so these are just some of the views that interested us:

This is Frauenkirchen the major church of the  city. Restored since the Allied bombing, it just reopened in 2005.  The dark stones are the original stones recovered from the church rubble.   Apparently when the bombing was over only the dome was destroyed and the towns' people were joyous. Unfortunately with the dome open to the sky in winter the temperature of the inside fell causing the stones to contract, losing the structural integrity; and down came the whole church.

View from the square with the fewest possible  folks  in the way.

The dome interior.   The best I could do with the jostling crowds.

This is the Palace of Augustus the Strong, who was the force behind making  Dresden "The Florence of  the North."

A view of the Palace to engender awe at its magnificence.

View of the renovated interior. My geometric self likes lines and angles

According to our guide this was the palace of Augustus's many mistresses/harem. The story is he built a bridge  between this palace and his own, so that in the cold weather he didn't have to get dressed to visit his mistresses. The official count is 19, but in those days they only counted those of  noble birth. It is rumored he had hundreds. 

Some views around Augustus the Strong's palace

Well my camera's panoramic function isn't handled too well by Blogger. It look pretty good on  a bigger screen.

Totally rebuilt buildings on the main square.

Some views walking around the town center.

Tired of the crowds and thinking we had seen enough of the town. We headed for the modern museum and saw some very nice art. We got a better appreciation of the Romantics, and loved the stuff of the Brucke school, and, of course the German Expressionists. No pictures allowed in the gallery. Here is a shot of the lobby.

One of the classic shots of Dresden is from across the river. We will end this with a shot across the river looking away from Dresden, from both sides of the bridge..

Unlike Augustus the Strong, the bridge is very modest.