Road Trip - Day 1 (Potsdam)

I am sitting at the desk in our hotel room (a different one than last night as they moved us to a larger, more modern room on another floor – perhaps having little children running around on the attic floor wasn’t the best idea) reflecting on the day that we just had. It was a good day. There wasn’t one particular thing that we saw or did that stands out to me as particularly amazing, but the fact that we spent the whole day together – start to finish – was just lovely. Sadly, it feels like there have been so many things pulling at our time back home that a day 100% devoted to our little family is a rarity and, boy, did it feel good to have that!

The day begun early for me with an unintentional punch in the eye from Milayla who had been sleeping in the middle of mine and Jason’s bed the night before. As I woke up and took another survey of the room I decided that I quite like the wonderful musty oldness and I decided that I want doors similar to the wood doors here, but with handcrafted doorknobs (I know, I have odd lines of thought in the morning). It was not too long after that that we were all up and casually getting ready to go down for breakfast. We were very pleasantly surprised by an incredible breakfast spread with a large selection of fresh fruits and vegetables along with plenty of hearty breads. To top it off we got to sit in a beautiful, old dining room adorned with gorgeous well-maintained antiques. After breakfast we were off to explore the historical town centre.

The weather was a little chilly this morning, so we bundled up and enjoyed being some of the first people out on the streets. There really is something quite peaceful about being able to explore at your own leisure.

Back when we were planning our itinerary for our road trip, we had decided that we would keep Potsdam incredibly flexible and easy-going with goals to visit the Sanssouci Palace and explore the historical city centre. Keeping our agenda open allowed us to find the rhythm that felt right for us, allowing for a low-stress tour around town. We explored a good portion of town as the shops were opening up before deciding we ought to head to the train station and pick up a map to ensure we weren’t missing any particular treasures.

 The kids loved pointing out these traffic light guys each time we went to cross the street. His name is Ampelmann, and he wears a hat because children are more likely to obey someone wearing a uniform with a hat (at least according to research way back when...wonder if that's changed?).

Jason had actually been to Potsdam before on a business trip so there were a few things in the city that he wanted to show us. Among those things; a space themed mosaic along two sides of a university building.

The building below was nothing but the face of a building. We never did find out what exactly it was. Anyone know?

The train station here doubles as a mall and is surprisingly clean. It was a nice little break from the cooler weather outside. After buying our train tickets for tomorrow and purchasing a map we headed back out on our adventure. With map in hand, we took a wrong turn. Perhaps it’s a little ironic, as before we had a map we didn’t have the possibility to take a wrong turn as there weren’t any particularly right turns either. Anyhow, as I was musing about listening to my gut when something doesn’t feel right (like we are going the wrong way) we happen to run into the missionaries! As we were walking towards them, Jason pitched the idea that we see how long it takes for them to start talking to us and let them talk to us about the church. It would have been a fun idea, I’m sure, except that as soon as the missionaries said ‘Guten Morgen”, I was already off on a tangent of questions about how their day was going, where they were from and all the other usual questions you ask missionaries. Perhaps it would have been fun to let them talk to us about the church but I was just too amazed about the fact that of all the people to run into in the city, we run into people that we know (well, sort of ;) ).

Once we were back on track we headed into the Dutch Quarter. It started raining. Perfect ambience. With lines of brick row houses and gabled roof tops with rain trickling down the sides, there certainly was a Holland-esque feel to this particular area, though it was missing canals (I guess the rain made up for the lack of canals.).

Coming upon lunchtime we spotted an organic bakery and headed in to be surprised by vegan sandwich options and plenty of delicious bread. We had barely settled in when a protest began marching down the street (we sure do have a knack for being in town during protests. Thessaloniki and Athens come to mind.) It was a delicious lunch and I am happy to report that Milayla is really starting to take a liking to solid food. And by that I mean she is at least willing to sample the foods (and she is quite liking them too!) that we offer her and that is a pretty big step forward.

The gate outside the cafe we stopped for lunch

The Brandenburger Tor in Potsdam. Frederick the Great had it built to celebrate a victory.

Following lunch we started the trek to Sanssouci Palace. Enroute, Atticus fell asleep. He has not fallen asleep in the stroller in a looooong time, so we certainly knew he was tired. Entering Sanssouci Park was quite something. It is beautiful. Filled with strong, tall trees beginning to glow with the vibrant colors of autumn, statues of many shapes and sizes and water features to fill in any voids.

Sanssouci Palace, King Frederich III’s Summer Palace, is a single story palace that sits atop desolation hill. Not too shabby for a summer home.

We had some time to wait for our tour time so we toured the grounds (allowing Atticus to get a bit more sleep) while Jason ran back to the hotel to retrieve the wrap (since we learned upon our arrival that the stroller would not be able to go in the palace).

That's the Hill of Ruins below. They aren't real ruins, Frederick wanted them constructed to look like that (I think it was to commemorate something...)

Of course, every palace needs it's own mill.

The tour through the Palace was shorter than we thought it would be. Once you enter at your allotted time you are given an audio tour set and you begin going through the palace one room at a time. You don’t tour through the entire palace, but you certainly see the highlights. The marble hall, the bedchambers, the welcoming room, the music room, they were all unique and quite beautiful. Much of the interior has needed to be restored at one point or another due mostly to the damage of light (the windows are now equipped with special light blocking curtains) but there are still mostly original furnishings through out, including the very chair the King Frederich died in. A little odd….

Well, since we did not take any photos inside the palace, this picture of the information sign will have to do. If you look closely, you can see some of the interior rooms. (Though, you can probably just look online for plenty of interior pictures if you really want.)

We all quite enjoyed the palace. Atticus loved keying in the number on his audio guide for each room that we entered and Milayla adored looking at the different wall and roof ornaments with each new room.

Then it was back to the hotel for a snack and to opt for some dry clothes as the rain had finally stopped. While we were gone the hotel staff had switched us to a large hotel room on another floor and added a baby cot which should help us all sleep a little better tonight. We quite like our hotel. Our new room has a very large corner sofa that the kids think is the greatest thing ever. I’m not sure they knew that couches could come this big and comfy.

interesting use of the old tree

After a little relaxation and a game or two we headed off to the Russian Colony. Good ‘ol Frederick the Great allotted some land to have 13 homes and a Russian Orthodox Church built in honor of Czar Alexander I. It is now a Unesco World Heritage site and sits on a large parcel of land filled with fruit trees. It is a very peaceful area. Most of the homes have people living in them short of one home that is open as a small museum and another that serves as a Russian restaurant (complete with a family favorite - Perogies!). We loved the detailing on the roof lines.

We headed up the hill to see the church. 

It was quite small, though I imagine with only 13 homes, there were not very many people that attended services then.

Following our walk through the Russian Colony it was off to find dinner. With shops already closing down (the downside of being in a smaller city) a lot of restaurants also closed early too. At least we got to see a few more interesting buildings/places on our search for a restaurant. The architecture here is so diverse and every time we think we have seen our favorite detailing, we find something new.







For dinner, we settled on a small pizza and pasta restaurant. It was nothing special, but it was good. We enjoyed some dessert on our way back to the hotel.

It felt good to get back to the hotel. The day was relaxing and we all enjoyed it, but we always look forward to sitting down at the end of the day and talking about the day. Atticus’ favorite part? Lunch. Milayla’s favorite part? We’re guessing the palace as she was in complete awe the whole time. Jason’s favorite part? The Russian Colony. And mine? Just being with my 3 most favorite people in the universe.

Well, now I must climb into the bed that is calling my name. We will be up early tomorrow morning to take the train into Berlin. Looking forward to it.