TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

New Chambers Palace at the Sansoucci Park in Potsdam. Potsdam is probably the perfect side trip from Berlin. It is an imperial little city oozing with history, majesty and stately architecture. It is where the Royals and the Kaisers once lived. Not very far from Berlin and just less half an hour by car or via a direct connection with the S-Bahn, this city also has a pretty old centrum and is home to the famous Sansoucci Palace and Park. Sansoucci Park I have to say is a world of its own. If it was up to me to choose what we would do in Potsdam, I would have decided to at least spend half a day here enjoying the baroque gardens, visiting each palace, inspecting and appreciating historical monuments and art on location... and a picnic would be nice as well. Sadly, the truth is that I was only able to check out 2 buildings, the ‘Church of Peace’ and the ‘New Chambers’. It was a rather quick visit with a Dutchman who was antsy to get back home to the flatlands. In summary, Sansoucc...

Potsdam is about 15-20 minutes by car from Berlin. There are bus and tram connections from Berlin to here as well. We didn’t really had much time to do some serious sightseeing in Potsdam. To be honest, I was not very pleased about it because this town has so many exquisite treasures. From beautiful garden parks, amazing palaces, monuments, ancient roman baths, historical buildings and many more. Potsdam equals royalty, it’s like Windsor in Britain and Sintra in Portugal. Up until 1918, Potsdam is the residence of the Prussian Kings and German Kaisers. Unfortunately, we were pressed with time and our original plan was to just have brunch here, walk around the old town centre a bit, then head back on the road to the Netherlands. That was much of the agenda really. So we decided to stick to the agenda, but I was able to sneak in a quick visit to the Sansoucci Park as well, which I will post separately. Potsdam’s old town centre is actually not that big but I must say that it is very pre...

The Nauener Tor (Nauen Gate) was built in 1755. Nauen Gate Like many European medieval cities, Potsdam as well is protected by a stone city gate. The ‘Nauen Gate’ (Nauener Tor) is one of the 3 remaining city gates in Potsdam today, and perhaps the most conspicuous, that is why it merits a post of its own. The gate is built in English Gothic Revival architecture which I find more appealing to the eyes than the usual Gothic style architecture we all know and have seen from the big and magnificent churches throughout Europe, e.g. Cologne Cathedral in Germany, Utrecht Dom Tower here in the Netherlands, etcetera. They are too elaborate, too busy. And I also like that the tram goes through the gate, and that the gate and the square in front of it are occupied with outdoor café terraces on both sides. It’s a beautiful setting indeed for an outdoor cafe. A great place to meet for a quick coffee or refreshment, and of course, to people watch. Nauener Tor is one of the remaining...

Dutchman and I were famished when we arrived in Potsdam. We haven’t had breakfast yet! So after parking the car underneath the big square facing Potsdam’s Brandenburg Gate that leads to the centrum, we didn’t lose time looking for a café restaurant. We came upon this bakery café called Mecklenburger Backstuben which I believe is a local chain of bakery cafés. They have set breakfasts available. The steak tartare breakfast set and moi here showing off a brochure and map of Potsdam. I wasn’t in the mood to figure out and translate what the set breakfasts are. Deutsch is related to Nederlands (Dutch language) and there are some words that come close to Dutch so when reading Deutsch I can somehow piece the words and sentences together and get the overall gist. But like I said, I was not in the mood. My goal was to find the best seating in the cafe. So I let the Dutchman order for me. Interestingly, he ordered the steak tartare (also known in Germany as ‘mett’ or ‘hackepeter’) breakfast...