MY VACATION IN AND NEAR BERLIN, AUGUST 1999

Thursday August 5th
It was early in the morning when I left the Dutch town of Apeldoorn, where I had stayed a few days at a friend's house. In nearby Deventer I had to change trains, but from there I could stay in the train until Berlin. The train was almost empty and it was not until Germany that more people came in. It rained and I didn't really have a nice view from the train most of the time. The train past villages and cities, pasture- and arable land. Finally after about 6 1/2 hour I reached Berlin and left the train at the Zoologischer Garten station. The first sight of the city I saw was the Kaiser Wilhelm Church of Rememberance (Gedächtniskirche), but I just quickly passed by as I needed to arrange a place to sleep at the nearby tourist office. I found a sleeping-place in a hostel at the end of the famous shopping street the Kurfürstendamm. I put my bags in my room and after that I spent the rest of the day walking around on the Kurfürstendamm and went shopping a bit.

Friday August 6th
Happily the weather was much better, and in fact it started to get warmer than I like. I hate it when it is too hot outside. I walked to the Charlottenburg Palace, and the first thing I saw was the statue of Prince Albrecht of Prussia (1809-1872), married and divorced to Princess Marianne of the Netherlands. The palace was very big, it has a length of about 500 metres, and very beautiful. The rococo palace was started in 1695 as a summer palace for Queen Sophie Charlotte, wife of King Friedrich I of Prussia. It has been damaged badly in World War II and afterwards restored. I first went in and made a guided walk through some rooms full of paintings, decorated ceilings and walls, furniture. I especially liked the Golden Gallery in which I had the feeling I needed to dance, but of course I didn't do it. Also the porcelain cabinet was very interesting. It was the first but not the last time I had to wear big felted slippers on my feet inside a palace, which is necessary to protect the old wooden floors. Another entry in the palace led me to the private rooms, which were also furnished beautifully. The palace itself I had finished now. The garden also looked great to visit in this weather. Around the corner of the big palace was the New Pavilion, built around 1824-25, and surrounded by palm trees. I thought it stood too close to the big palace. I made a nice walk in the delightful English garden and first visited the Mausoleum for Queen Luise, who died suddenly in 1810. Also her husband King Friedrich Wilhelm III, Emperor Wilhelm I and his wife Queen Augusta are buried here and their tombs can be seen. The inside of the mausoleum is white, which makes it look bigger and brighter. Further the park contained a Belvedere with a big collection of Prussian porcelain. After more than four hours at the Charlottenburg Palace and Garden I had had enough and walked to the Kaiser Wilhelm Church of Rememberance to watch it from the inside. Not much to see, but interesting were the pictures on the opening by Emperor Wilhelm II at the end of the 19th century. The Church looks like a ruin now, as it never has been build up completely after it had been bombed in 1943.

Saturday August 7th
It was very hot, and after a day walking I had blasters on my feet. I went to East Berlin, and as I went walking it took me about one hour. On my way I climbed the 285 stairs of the Victory Column (Siegessäule) on the Big Star, 60 metres high and build as a commemoration to the various wars fought by Prussia that resulted in the Unification of Germany, and enjoyed the view from there. The column is crowned by a golden figure representing Victoria. Back below I wanted to buy a card of the beautiful mosaics around the column as there was no way to make a photo of them, but there were no postcards! Then I walked further and reached the Brandenburg Gate, built in 1788-91, with on the top the Goddess of Victory in a horse-drawn chariot. It was a very strange feeling that I could pass the gate so easily. That hadn't been possible before November 9th 1989, when the wall fell down. I walked along Unter den Linden, the big avenue that once was the centre of Berlin. They are trying to restore it to its former glory. Most of the old buildings and palaces that once surrounded the avenue are destroyed. A bookshop had a small exhibition of models of the old avenue with most important buildings, including the great city palace that was destroyed in 1945 by a bomb. In 1950 the Soviets cleaned the reminded parts away to make themselves a huge parade square. I saw the Dutch Palace, which they are restoring and modernizing to offices called the Zollernhof. The Crown Prince Palace temporarily lodged the German Historical Museum. I thought East Berlin looked like one big building-site as the official museum was closed because of restoration. I passed the splendid castle bridge with marble statues on it and reached the Cathedral of Berlin (Berliner Dom) where some 95 Hohenzollerns are buried. I was able to watch 21 tombs, as also here restoration (and it depends how much money there is in the future how long it will take to restore it all - they talked about 20-30 years). I bought a little booklet, which told me which persons are buried in this cathedral. On my way back to the hostel I saw the outside of the Reichstag Building (government seat).

Sunday August 8th
Again I went to East Berlin. As many others, especially Americans, I went to Checkpoint Charlie, the world-famous border crossing during the Cold War. The House at Checkpoint Charlie, the wall museum, was very impressive, and had a fascinating collection of devices with which East Germans managed to escape the East. Amazing what people invented! Outside I easily found a piece of the wall, although not many pieces have left and most East Germans don't want to see it anymore. On my way to the hostel I had a look on the Bellevue Palace, which is the residence of the President of the German Federation (at the moment Johannes Rau). He lives like a king!

Monday August 9th
I moved to Potsdam, a town in the southwest of Berlin, in the former East Germany. I found a place to sleep at the tourist office and then went into town to go to the Sanssouci Park for the first time. I visited the Friedenskirche (Church of Peace) where on May 22nd of this year the marriage took place of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and Countess Katharina von Hardenberg. I first watched the family-vault with the tombs of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and his wife Elisabeth in the church. Afterwards I talked to the lady who sold postcards, who showed me the diary of the church to confirm the Habsburg-Hardenberg wedding date. She told me the wedding took place late in the afternoon. 400 guests were invited. I still can't imagine how all those people fitted in this quite small church. The Sanssouci Park was wonderful with fountains, statues, palaces, smaller buildings, walking paths, trees. It was great walking around in it. The only palace opened on Monday (but not on Friday) was the Neues Palais (New Palace). I was very impressed, and especially liked the cave-hall of which the walls were covered with shells, but as there wasn't very much to see I didn't spent much more than half an hour inside. I left the park and walked into town to go shopping. I saw nice shops and bought lots of postcards to send to friends. After a days-long search I found the ultimate royal bookshop (Potsdamer Antiquariat, Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse 27/28, 14467 Potsdam), where they sold many books on the Hohenzollern family and some other royal families. If I had had the money and the space in my luggage I would have bought tons of books there. Now I unfortunately couldn't. Finally I visited the Dutch Quarter, with houses in Dutch style. I was very surprised to find this here and didn't know where to look first. I decided to go to the place where I was going to stay for the first few days. It turned out to be a great little holiday cottage in the backyard of a house, and very luxurious as it had a bathroom and a kitchen also.

Tuesday August 10th
The landlords who owned my holiday cottage gave me a bicycle so I could easily move in and around Potsdam. I started the day by watching the Russian Quarter of Potsdam, Alexandrovka (one King decided to ask people from different countries to live in his country and work for him; everybody built his own quarter) and watched the beautiful wooden houses in Russian style with superb woodcarving on the front. I then visited the Cecilienhof (big cottage) and just missed the first of the two guided tours through the rooms of the last Crown Prince Couple of Germany, Wilhelm and Cecilie, for who the cottage was build between 1913 and 1917. The next one was only in three hours and I decided not to come back for that later. I took the tour through the Conference rooms, where in July and August 1945 a conference was held between Russia, USA and Great Britain about the end of the war. It was nice but for me not really interesting, although it was for most other people. I afterwards visited the Marmor Palais (Marble Palace), which was situated on the waterside, and was built by King Friedrich Wilhelm II between 1787 and 1791. As most other palaces I have seen in and around Potsdam, it was in restoration. I had a look inside, where I liked it but it was smaller than I had expected. After a short distance cycling I reached the Sanssouci Park again and tried to visit as much palaces as possible.

First I had a look into the mausoleum next to the Friedenskirche where are to see the tombs of Emperor Friedrich III of Germany, his wife Victoria, their early-died sons Sigismund and Waldemar, and King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. I was very sorry it was only possible to watch from behind a fence, and I couldn't go inside. The first palace I tried was the Sanssouci Palace, but I learned that tickets for all tours of the day are often sold out in the beginning of the afternoon already. I admired the beautiful (newly-build after a former one) Dutch windmill behind the Sanssouci Palace from the outside as I know how everything works inside. Further I visited the small Neu-Kammern Palace, the Orangerie Palace, and the Römische Bädern (Roman Baths). In the last one was an interesting exposition with some paintings of Princess Wilhelmine Luise of Prussia (1799-1882), married to Prince Friedrich of Prussia. When I came out it had begun to rain and I had to hurry to the Charlottenhof Palace where I had a very nice guided tour through private rooms of the family, left in the state they were before the end of the German Empire. After a short but heavy rain-shower which made me soaking wet, I finished the day.

Wednesday August 11th
I started the day at the beautiful Sanssouci Palace with its huge terraces with vegetation. After a guided tour of about one hour I was outside again. The rooms I liked most were the Marble Hall (in white and gold, and metres high), and a room with wall decoration (which existed of wood-carved flowers and animals, like a monkey and a flamingo). Outside the palace was the grave of King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia. From the back of the Palace you could take a look on the mountain of ruins; there was a time it was interesting to build ruins. I cycled through the park to visit what I hadn't seen before, although it officially was not allowed to cycle there. I watched the outside of the Antikentempel (Antique Temple), a mausoleum where the two wifes of Emperor Wilhelm II are buried, as well as two of his sons (Joachim and Eitel-Friedrich) and a grandson (Wilhelm). I also watched the Chinese Teahouse. It took some time before I had found everything. Would have loved to have a good map with all paths on it. After finishing the park I visited the Russian Quarter again to find the beautiful small Alexander Nevski Orthodox Church. In the shopping street I bought some more postcards and a book about Potsdam. I vainly searched for a nice t-shirt but didn't find one with one or more palaces on it.

Thursday August 12th
I made a long cycling trip around Potsdam today. I first visited the Caputh Castle, partly opened for the public and very nice. I loved the painted ceilings and the few things which were shown inside. It is still under restoration. It was built by Dorothea, the second wife of the Big Elector Friedrich Wilhelm, after it was given to her in 1671. Especially the Fliesensaal, a room of which walls and ceiling were covered with Delft(blue) tiles, was beautiful. I had never seen something like this. I crossed Potsdam again to watch the Glienicke Hunting-castle (not very interesting) and the Glienicke Castle, where they had a nice exhibition on Queen Victoria of Great Britain's German travels. They showed at least one watercolour made by herself. I cycled along the lake to the Pfaueninsel (Peacock's Island) to watch the little white wooden castle King Friedrich Wilhelm II built for his mistress Wilhelmine Encke in the second half of the 18th century. As the next tour was in more than one hour and there were some more things I wanted to watch I cycled away from the island. The final castle I visited was the Babelsberg Castle, residence of Emperor Wilhelm I. It had looked beautiful from the Glienicke Castle. It was very worth visiting. Although it was small and just one floor could be watched, I tasted the old sphere around here a little. I especially liked the paintings and the personal belongings.

Friday August 13th
It took me one and a half hour to travel from Potsdam to Oranienburg in the north of Berlin. I found a place to sleep for two nights through the tourist office. To my big disappointment the Oranienburg Palace should not open its doors for the public until Sunday. I decided to visit the Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen and was very impressed and moved when I saw it. When I came in I saw a big empty and silent space where once the barracks of the prisoners stood. Some buildings and barracks were left (or rebuilt) with around a wall with watchtowers. I watched the washing-rooms, toilets and dormitories which looked awful even now. The exhibition with stories and photos of prisoners (most of them died in the war) almost made me cry. I was happy to be outside again. Even if you have read, heard and watched a lot about camps it is different and much more difficult to watch it with your own eyes, although it doesn't look anymore like it looked then.

Saturday August 14th

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands's visit to Oranienburg

Sunday August 15th
Together with the two Dutchmen, Oscar and Johan, I met the day before, I visited the exhibition the Queen opened the day before. It was called "Onder den Oranje Boom". I guess we were the first Dutch visitors of the exhibition in Oranienburg after the Queen the day before. Happily we were there short after the gates were opened as newspapers later told about long lines of people who wanted to enter. The three of us were able to see the exhibition well enough. We saw well-known paintings we had seen before in Dutch museums, and also unknown paintings or paintings we had only seen in books, almost all portraits/paintings were from members of the Oranje-Nassau family. Also shown were furniture and articles of use. Unfortunately, not to talk badly about this great exhibition, we sometimes missed a logical order of the things shown. But what we saw was worth visiting. When the exhibition will come to the Netherlands at the end of the year we surely go back and see it again. It will be in Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn from December 16th 1999 to March 20th, 2000. In the beginning of the afternoon we left by train to Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station to catch the train to the Netherlands. We had a quick and pleasant (and very entertaining) journey back home. I arrived in Groningen safely late in the evening.

For more information on the Palaces in Potsdam and Berlin watch:

Foundation Prussian Castles and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg