Thursday, July 16

We traveled this morning to Potsdam, which is east of the former West Berlin. We traveled across the bridge which was often referred to as Spy Bridge. During the Cold War, information was passed back and forth between the former West and East Germanys.
We passed the Brandenberg Gate, which is named the same as the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. If someone was traveling from Potsdam, for example, in the former East Berlin, to Berlin, they would go through the check point at the Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam and then have to travel, without stopping, to the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin. If the trip took too long, the occupants of the vehicle were immediately under suspicion. If the trip took too short, the driver was fined.

We were welcomed at the Sanssouci Palace by Dr. Heinz Bure and Ms. Silke Hollender, directors of marketing and tourism respectively. They explained to us several strategies they used to market this palace as a tourism site and how they put together education packages for students coming to the Sanssouci Palace.






After the session with our hosts, we were able to go through the garden and up to the palace which was the home of Frederick the Great after 1747.

The terraced vineyard was very interesting and the grave of Frederick the Great was marked near the palace.

It is also noteworthy that it was Fredrick the Great’s wish to have his dogs buried at the same place.


We left the palace for a visit to the Hoffbaurer. This is a protestant private school system. It was the wishes of the founder couple that the money from their estate should go to the education of children in the Potsdam area. We were given a short tour of the gymnasium which is might be compared to our high schools back in Canada.




After lunch in Potsdam, we went to the New Palace at Sanssouci. This was also built by Frederick the Great from 1763 – 1769. During Frederick the Great’s reign, this was a guest house for royal guests. Subsequent kings and queens did live here.


This was followed by a short tour of Schloss Cecilienhoff. This smaller palace was the home of Crown Prince William and wife Cecillie. It became famous as the place of the Potsdam Conference where U.S. President Harry Trumen, USSR President Joseph Stallin and Britain’s Winston Churchill deliberated where the various borders should be located after Germany had been defeated in World War II.


We headed back to Berlin and I was able to get back to Alexanderplatz before closing time and did finally buy a new suitcase for the rest of the trip.