Wednesday 19 September. A 45-minute train ride this morning and we were in the historic town of Potsdam, the city that Frederick the Great “took from the Sparta of his father to the Athens of the North”. Potsdam is actually on an island, and was favoured as a holiday retreat by successive rulers, hence the huge palaces and gardens spread across the landscape. It has also featured more recently; World War I was declared at the New Palace; the first talking movie was produced here in 1992 and the first colour movie in 1936; it was in a Potsdam church (later destroyed by Allied bombing) that, on 21 March 1933, Adolf Hitler declared himself ruler of Germany; 100,000 Russian troops were stationed here during the Cold War and the Russian Security Service had its only headquarters outside of the USSR here. Potsdam has always been a mix of military and culture; it is claimed that in the 17th and 18th centuries that the town wall was used more to keep the soldiers from deserting that to repel attackers. Since the end of Russian occupation a great deal of effort has been put into restoring historic buildings damaged during WWII or by the Russian occupiers.
We strolled through the splendid gardens of the Schloss Sansouci, walked through Potsdam ‘s Brandenburg Gate , visited a couple of squares, churches and a street market, and had a German sausage and mustard roll. We finished the day by returning to Berlin and visiting the Church of St Nikolas, the oldest church in Berlin and now a museum.
Tomorrow: off early for the train ride to Warsaw.
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