Wusterhausen Pt 1

Saturday 30 Jun: Decided to relax a bit and explore the local area with Daisy leading, so after a bit of shopping and housekeeping off we set. Very nice area, lots of woodlands with walkways through them and access to the lake is very easy for those who wish to swim – not Linda. Slow going as it was a very humid day with 26C and lots of sun so a bit of ‘ray’ catching was called for, do not want those ‘rusty’ people in England to be darker than us.

Untersee at Westerhausen

They get everywhere these pesky ducks

Sunday 1 Jul: 5 weeks into our adventure and it still feels as though we have just left the shores of the UK. Terrible night, we ended up sitting up with a very frighten wee girl (Daisy) through a monster thunder and lightning storm – it was really something else and easily compared with those out in tropical parts we have visited. A bit tired so had a lazy day, I know another one, and watched some films - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel being the pick of the bunch. Did a bit of visit planning and decided it was time to hit Potsdam and see the changes to one of the main east/west frontiers and also get to see those former highly forbidden and ghastly Soviet secret service enclaves – must also go fully over the Bridge of Spies (Glienicke Bridge) and see if I can swap Linda. Dull with some sun and 23C but more pleasant due to last night’s storm.

Who is a pretty girl then.

Monday 2 Jul: Early start to meet up with a tour bus (hop on hop off), the only way to see and get to know about everything without crashing the car. Started at Sanssouci Park – WOW  spectacular a good example of those days when differing early Prussian royalty competed against each other in decadence, opulence and general one up mans ship. Any arguments or disagreements and they just built another palace in between wars. Had lunch in Potsdam Baroque city centre whilst gazing at the Brandenburg Gate – no not THE gate but a smaller imitation version, apparently Fredrick the Great had some of Berlin’s features replicated in their so called summer residence area, Potsdam. Continued the tour and visited the former ‘nasty’ areas - amazing to see all the former Soviet spy centres and execution/holding/torturing buildings – all now having been given back to the families who had them taken from them in 1945. The former Prussian/Soviet barracks have been converted by the government into OAP’s (sorry mature persons) and student’s accommodation and like most of the other former buildings they are listed/protected.

The New Palace
Sanssouci
Potsdam

The New Palace
Sanssouci Park
Potsdam

The Orangery Palace

Sanssouci Park

Potsdam

Sanssouci Palace
Potsdam

The tour was well organised and of course resulted in a first for Daisy - a ride on a bus, she had no problems as long as see could sit on someone or a seat and fortunately as the tour was not very full this was possible.

Daisy's first bus ride.

Potsdam has a nice town centre with plenty of places to eat and drink outside, unfortunately this attracts little birds which Daisy thought would be good fun to play (?) with so she was quite vocal.

Had to pose at the kliene (small) Brandenburg Gate. Got back slightly shattered but had a completely enjoyable day with some sun and even the odd shower which did not dampen our spirits – 21C.

Tuesday 3 Jul: Long awaited return to Berlin with lots of eagerness and in trepidations on what we will find, of course the removal of the borders/wall will have made a massive difference but we were hopeful of some memories being still there. Same format as yesterday with a Hop on hop off tour bus booked to start from Kurfurstedamm Strasse, took a very interesting tour as far as Checkpoint Charlie – noticing that Berlin is very busy city and resembles a building site in places with lots of renovations of the old east sector and exploitation of the old no man’s land. Checkpoint Charlie was very disappointing with rather naff tourist attraction type displays however it still evoked memories.

The 'naff' Checkpoint Charlie
Berlin

Back on the bus for a grand tour of the city centre – masses of shops (all THE names) especially the KaDeWe, freedom gifts from the western countries, more building work with some rather spectacular modern buildings to complement the refurbished historical buildings. In places some of the wall had been retained for historical and display purposes with lots of memorials to those who suffered during the occupation. Daisy was thoroughly enjoying herself as we were on the open top deck of the bus and with the wind blowing through her ears everybody, including the tour guide was making a fuss of her.  

Coming Together Symbol
(locally called 'spaghetti')
Berlin

'And the wind in my ears'
Berlin

Got off at the Old Museum on Unter den Linden with a quest to find the old east German ‘the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’ eventually found the place which has now been converted into a memorial for ALL people who have suffered during troubled times, called The New War Memorial and has a sculpture of ‘Mother with dead Son, replacing the military tombstone – very tasteful and poignant.

The old Tomb of the Unkown Soldier
(now The War Memorial)
Berlin

Mother with dead Son sculpture
The War Memorial
Berlin

We decided to walk the short distance to THE Brandenburg Gate to enable Linda to see the ‘sights’ and whilst in the area we took in the Reichstag (German Parliament Building).

The 'Real' Brandenburg Gate
Berlin

The Riechstag
Berlin

Back onto the bus as we had seen all that we wanted to and the 'plates of meat' were getting a bit hot. Of course we just managed to fit in a typical Berlin Currywurst at the road side before heading back to the car and Wusterhausen.  We had a good day but it was certainly an eye opener and another tick on the ‘bucket list’. A bit overcast with sunny periods and 23C.

Wednesday 4 Jul: Pre move day so lots of sorting and pack up work but all done in slow time - we are still on holiday you know! We did our movement review and had all things in hand until another 'bloody cararan' took the pitch we had planned to use for our reversing out move - back to the drawing board. Made out our route itinerary and visited the bank to get some Polish 'dosh' - wise people not adopting the Euro. So we were ready and willing, just had to perform tomorrow - bet we have lots of spectators. Sunny day with 27C so a few beads of sweat was spilt in packing away.