Sorry for the delay!! I was doing so good with keeping up too.
Last Friday we had an excursion to Potsdam. Depending on your location within Berlin, it can be quite a lengthy train ride to Potsdam. I live pretty close, so it was only 30 minutes for me. I had a flashback from yesterday on my journey there. The train stopped extra long at one of the stations and the conductor made an announcement, which was followed by sighs from everyone around me. I thought NOT AGAIN! But after a few minutes more the train started again. Thank goodness!!
My group of nearly 50 was supposed to meet at 10:20, but there were only about 10 of us there at that point. Even our guide was late. It has been very surprising to me how not punctual Germans are. I thought that's what they prided themselves in?! I know I'm usually not punctual, but at least I admit it. So we finally got started a little before 11.
We took the electric rail to Sanssouci. I was very excited to ride the electric rail, but it turned out to be much like the buses. The only difference is that the middle of the train has a giant circle that turns and pivots with the train. It's quite a ride to stand there! I probably should have done some research or at least known what Sanssouci was before we got there, but of course I didn't. Turns out it was one of Frederick the Great's castles!!! All I can say is AMAZING!! Unfortunately, photos inside were forbidden, but it was so beautiful, so lush, so elegant!! It really was something to see! Our tour guide was amazing as well. She had the cutest little British accent. She really knew a lot about the castle and showed us a lot!
The castle is set on the equivalent of 700 acres. They have so many gardens there! It is amazing! So pretty! They try to keep the gardens with flowers that would have been around during that time period. In case you want to know, he became king in 1740. It really was something to see how well preserved everything was inside the castle. Our guide said that a lot of the pieces had been disbursed from the castle through other kings reigns, wars, etc. But so many of them were back in the castle.
I feel I lived in the wrong time period. As we were walking through the castle I could just imagine being a guest. But as someone pointed out, it's only the right time period if you were royalty. Outside we learned that it took almost 200 years for King Frederick the Great to be buried on the grounds. Apparently, his body was kept in a church for some time, but moved during WWII. Then it was kept in another church, before finally fulfilling his will and burying him at his castle. I will post a picture of this. Word has it that toward the end of his life he was rather sloppy and that he was actually buried in one of his servants shirts because he didn't have any clean ones. Who knows.
Overall, it was a gorgeous place and finally a nice day to be outside!! I had currywurst for the first time today. It was ok, but I bought mine from a street vendor, so it may not have been truly authentic. Basically it was a sausage in a ton of ketchup with some curry sprinkled on top. Since I don't like ketchup, it really wasn't my thing. It came with french fries if that says anything lol. I have fallen in love with the drink Fanta. The only Fanta here is the orange one, but it tastes ten times better than the States.
Next, we went to Cecilenhof. Compared to Sanssouci this palace was nothing! This is where the Potsdam Conference during WWII took place. The attendees were Churchill, Stalin, and Truman. Our tour guide was not very interesting. In fact, he was completely monotone and his voice was soothing in the way that it made me sleepy. However, he did say that the attendees arrived at the same time to signify they were equal and they entered through different doors. We saw each room that was designated for each of the attendees. We saw the round table where everyone sat and where the terms of Japanese surrender were drafted. Our guide said Truman received word while he was there that the test of the atomic bomb was successful. Apparently the weather in Japan was not great at this point, so he instructed them to wait for a better day. While Truman was on a ship on his way back to the US, he gave the order to bomb Japan.
It was nice to walk the same hallways and see where everything took place. It was interesting to realize and hear all the history of the castle. We had quite a long day. We finally finished around 5:30. I hurried home to get ready for the official welcome dinner for the FU-BEST program. Teachers, host families, and students were all invited. It was really nice to go with my host family. The food was really good also!! I love eating, so I was in heaven....buffet style Italian food!!
We broke up for the evening after dinner. A group of us decided to go out. We didn't actually look up a place to go to a bar. It's a hard mentality to change from always knowing where to go, and if you don't, just going to the popular streets. It's not quite like that here. So we searched for a long while, found one, and it was not quite what we were looking for. We finally settled on a cute little pub.
The "entertainment" on this street was quite entertaining LOL. Apparently prostitution is quite legal here also. I actually had no clue. This particular street was their street. There were so many of them, probably 5 or more. Just working the street. They would approach nearly everyone and say I do this, that, etc. Unfortunately my German is not so good, so I wasn't able to make out the price or their abilities haha! These ladies were dressed very strangely. The one had a sweatshirt and a corset over the top, and they all wore fanny packs. I'm sure you're thinking they were unattractive by this description. But they weren't. They were gorgeous women. I actually felt bad for them.
They worked the street all night and finally a group of guys bought them all. I asked my host parents about this and they said that prostitutes actually pay taxes now. So it's a profession too. Very interesting!
That was enough excitement for the night for me. Hope you enjoyed my history lesson and it was worth the wait :)
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