Potsdam and Pictures

We've been holed up again at Chez Hunn this week, mostly trying to figure out what in the heck almighty this country is doing to our immune systems.  The absolutely fantastic news, however, is we returned from our Berlin sojourn to a heated and hot watered apartment.  (weak cheers)

Also, we get a partial refund for our rent this month. (stronger yet still slightly weak cheers)  Germans are efficiently honest about such things, apparently.  Blessings of sauerkraut and other pickled things to them and their posterity.

So anyway, back to Berlin.  We went to Berlin/Potsdam this past Sunday.  It's about a 2.5 hour train ride each way to the central station, so we were up and walking by 6am and didn't get home till around 9:30pm...so, yes, it was rather...prolonged.  But totally worth it.

We met the infamous, world-traveling Sara and Tyler Meldrum, previously of Berkeley and currently of Aachen, who we had only known of before through a mutual friend.  We also got to tag along with their friend, Leif, who was a native-German expert in all things Berlin.  (Also, he had access to a car which is pretty much the most extravagant thing I could imagine for transportation).

Also, he collects historic menus.  What? Awesome.

Anyway, Leif took us to this crazy good breakfast buffet and then dragged my wide-eyed American self all around Berlin (Did you know that people tried to escape from East Germany by clinging to the bottom of trains?! for example).  Then he drove us all the way to Potsdam.  Then he gave us tours of many of the palaces there.  And all the while Paul and I got to bask in the beautiful day and the super-cool company that were Sara and Tyler and Leif.  Booya!

Potsdam was lovely, as you can see.  My hands-down favorite was Sansscoucci Palace (meaning "Without a Care" in French). And it was fantastic to learn so much more about Frederick the Great, who we decided is kiiiind of like George Washington's non-existent but way fancier, older, flautist brother...but for Germany.

Seeing Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference was held, and a beautiful Marble Palace just rounded out a fantastic day.  We'll forever be sending good vibes in the direction of Leif and the Meldrums for giving us such a great opportunity to hang around them all of Sunday!  Blessings of sauerkraut and other pickled things on your heads.

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As an addendum, my most recent convalescence has brought me into the magical world of Picnik.  The blog will never be the same again.  Check it:

Look what I can do...