After some time away from Berlin in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, and Austria, it was time for me to return and take more shots of my home city, Berlin. One fine sunny Sunday, my host dad and I resolved we couldn't let the excellent weather go to waste and headed out to nearby Potsdam. Potsdam is the capital city of the German state that surrounds Berlin, Brandenburg, and plays host to a number of famous, picturesque castles.
We hopped in the car and drove out. That in itself was fairly unusual, since Berliners almost always use public transportation to get anywhere. Not everyone has a car, and those who do have a very hard time finding a parking place. But in any case, we arrived and walked around a few hours as I snapped away.
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| Just like Berlin, Potsdam also has a Brandenburg Gate, built in 1770 |
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| Sanssouci Park, the gardens outside the city's most famous palace, are huge and ideal for walking |
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| The Church of Peace (Friedenskirche) in Sanssouci Park, built in the 1840s |
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| Sansoucci Palace and its vineyard terraces are Potsdam's most famous sight. They were built in 1744 |
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| The relatively small Sanssouci Palace was built by Frederick the Geat as a private summer retreat |
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| Walking towards the Neues Palais |
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| The nearby Neues Palais (New Palace) was built in the 1760s to show Prussia was still strong despite the recent Seven Years War |
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| A pair of lavish buildings behind the Neues Palais called the Comuns |
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| The Orangery Palace, yet another palace close to Sanssouci, was built in the mid-1800s. The whole park, including, naturally, Sanssouci Palace, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site |
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Yet one more palace: Babelsberg Palace was finished in 1849
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Not long after our walk, I had a friend from the U.S. visit me here in Berlin. I showed her the basic sights but also planned an itinerary that allowed me to experience new things in my city as well.
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| Our first big stop: the Berliner Dom, built in the late 1800s. It may look as ornate as a Catholic Church, but like most important churches in Berlin, it's Protestant |
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| A view of Berlin's Museum Island with the TV Tower in the background |
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| Returning to the Berlin Cathedral. We were about to go inside, which was a first for me! |
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| The interior is just as impressive as the exterior |
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| I love climbing to the top of domes and towers and getting a great view. The Berlin Cathedral gave us the chance to do just that |
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| Us with Berlin's landmark TV Tower |
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| We climbed down many flights of stairs from the dome all the way down to the crypt, where we found coffins of all sizes |
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| Leaving the crypt behind, we headed outside and took a closer look at the Brandenburg Gate, a must for every Berlin visitor |
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| We spent the next day seeing even more in Berlin, starting out at the Victory Column, a monument built in 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War |
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| The Tiergarten is a huge park in the middle of Berlin |
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| Also in the Tiergarten is the residence of Germany's President, Bellevue Palace. To clarify, Germany's President is not Angela Merkel, but Jaochim Gauck |
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| Schloss Charlottenburg, as mentioned above |
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| We ended with a stop in the Mauerpark, a park in northern Berlin that I had never seen. Throngs of Berliners were out to enjoy the sun |
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| Berlin loves graffiti. Here's a wall specifically for graffiti artists |
After those first few days, my friend's introduction in Berlin had to be put on hold. We had something extremely exciting on the agenda: a trip to Rome! Pictures are coming up next.
