Potsdam – Walking in History and a Great Lunch

Schloss Cecilienhoff – site of the Potsdam Conference

Potsdam, is around 40 minutes from Berlin by train, and is an important part of European cultural history.  Not only is Potsdam the site of some famous country estates that belonged at one time or other to various Kaiser’s and Kings; including the World Heritage listed Sanssouci Palace and Park.   Potsdam is also famous for the Potsdam Conference – held at Schloss Cecilienhof in 1945; which sealed the fate of Germany after WW2.

It was a pleasant and relaxing 40 minute train ride from Alexanderplatz to Potsdam, and we alighted at Park Sanssouci and took a short walk to the Neues Palace, sadly it was closed for the day, which was perhaps just as well as it is looking very much in need of both a good clean and some extensive repair work.  We then embarked on a longer and more energetic walk through the magnificent parkland, it covers almost 300 hectares, heading for Schloss Sanssouci.

Sanssouci was commissioned by Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1745, because he wanted to live sans souci (outside the city), which in Frederick’s case, meant outside the hated city.  The palace and grounds are both magnificent and extensive.  and there is a guided tour available.  Departing Sanssouci we headed for our second (and lunchtime) destination Schloss Cecilienhof.  The schloss is now a luxury hotel and we first sought out the well respected and much talked about restaurant, after all it was herself who had said; “the best part of sightseeing is a long lunch”!

Having found said restaurant we settled in and enjoyed a leisurely and delicious lunch.  We started sipping a delightfully tasty and tangy German Rose, which came from Syrah Grapes and was almost a soft blush, it was so good we stayed with it through lunch.

German Rose – A Syrah Blush

We went straight on to main courses, calves liver (her) and stuffed guinea fowl (me) and followed up with cheese.  The calves liver, enjoyed by the famous eater of offal, was a superb meal, served with mash and caramelized onions, it was topped off by three lightly fried onion rings  and was pronounced by both the eater and the taster as perfection.

The guinea fowl, which is a dish I had never previously eaten, was served as leg (you would call it Maryland if it was chicken) and breast, stuffed with forcemeat, on a base of potato gnocchi, with tomato, spring onion and a very delicate foam sauce.  In a word; delicious! If you want more words, then I quote: “one of the best bird meals I have ever eaten, anywhere.”  We finished with a shared cheese platter, which was five different cheese, two different breads and condiments; it looked great  and tasted the same; and coffee – good coffee, real coffee, proper coffee – you get the drift.

Guinea fowl – tasted as good as it looks

Calfs liver – superbly presented

After lunch we explored the grounds, had a quick look at the conference venue (from the outside) and then headed for the station and the trip home.  It was a great day out, and one I am happy to recommend – and not only because a good lunch awaits – but the sights are great, the gardens brilliant, you are walking through history and the train journey itself a bit of fun.

Peter Watson

Discussions over a German Lunch – In search of the Umlaut

Museumsinsel from the Berliner Dom

“Germütlich has an umlaut;” was the somewhat unexpected comment, that prompted the discussion on language over what started as drinks and ended as lunch, at the Cafe im Deutschen Historischen Museum.  Germütlic means comfortable, being in a friendly space/place and is one of the (very) few German words that I both know and understand the meaning of.

I had used it a few moments earlier, just after the waitress delivered our Berlin Pilsener’s, by saying – “this is germütlic”! I was establishing my immersion into the German culture after (just) two days – in other words showing off my limited language skills – and it sort of fitted.

We had popped into the cafe (which is attached to the History Museum) –  after a morning  of exploration.  We started, after a short but brisk stroll from Alexanderplatz station, at Marienkirche, (Church of St Mary) where building first commenced in 1270.  The church is built in the Gothic and Baroque style and houses some real treasures, including a Font from 1437 and a Fresco from 1485 (The Dance of the Dead).  It also has a Neo Gothic Tower that was added in 1790.

Marienkirche

Then we crossed the road and the river and grabbed a coffee at Cafe Einstein before popping into the spectacular Berliner Dom, (Berlin Cathedral), which sort of takes your breath away with it’s size and the amazing dome.  We took time out to climb the (many) steps and take in the 360 degree view of Berlin from the open air dome walkway.  So we figured we deserved a break and the cafe, which we had spotted from the walkway, seemed like the right spot.

Anyway, back to the umlaut; which is where we started this short tale. The umlaut, the two little “dot like things” over the vowel – ü – like this; is used to lengthen the sound of the vowel (which is how it was explained to me) so that instead of hearing “mut” – you actually hear “moot”.  I actually looked it up on Wikipedia and the explanation is so much more complicated so I will stick with mine, which I at least understand.

The quintessential Umlaut is everywhere in Berlin, along with a whole host of other interesting bits and pieces of the German language, and now that I know what it is I find myself searching for it, in signs, on menus and in anything that I read.  A tour of the History Museum – post lunch – revealed a veritable abundance of umlauts in the signage in front of the many exhibits.

Umlaut, it is one of those words that sort of sticks, slips easily of the tongue and is simple to remember, I wonder if we can introduce it to the English language.

Two Pilseners Please

Berlin – Memorials and Monuments

Brandenburg Gate

Berlin is a busy, fascinating and vibrant city; one which requires some serious exploration in order to get the true picture.  After three fast paced days, where we covered some of the major sights and buildings we took time out to get a bit serious and have a closer look at history, some of which was of our time and some of which preceded it but has no doubt influenced us and our up-bringing.

We started at the Berlin Wall memorial, to be exact the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, which is located on Bernauer Strasse, one of the streets that was cut in half by the wall, virtually overnight, in August 1961.  The memorial is a moving exhibition to the events of that time and of the next 28 years when Berlin was split in two.  Some Berlin families were kept apart for the entire 28 years by the concrete walls – that became THE symbol of the Cold War!

The Wall from the East

Walking through the memorial over the ground that was once the gap between the two walls, or “the killing ground” as it was known between 1961 and 1989; it is a tad unreal.  The grass is lush and green, the wall does not seem at all intrusive at first, it is only a short section of the actual wall, and the atmosphere is, without doubt, very different.  It is when you read the plaques, listen to the stories, look at the remembrance wall and see the remains of Bernauer Strasse as it was back then that the story becomes real.

The Remembrance Wall

The clincher for me was the ghost station display at Nordbahnhof UBahn station, and the realisation of exactly what the wall and the border closure really meant.  Berliners travelling on the UBahn between points in Berlin used to travel underground through the East, passing these “ghost stations” that were once an integral part of the rail network. These stations were manned by East german guards but were otherwise deserted and left, exactly as they were for 28 years.

From the wall we stepped further back in time, as we headed to the Jewish Holocaust Memorial.  The memorial park is located just near the immensely impressive Brandenburg Gate, and opposite the Tiergarten, only minutes from the centre of Berlin. Here we spent another two hours immersed in what is still, at least to me, an almost unbelievable piece of world history.  The holocaust has been written about, commented on, studied and talked about by so many people that one more comment is simply unnecessary.

The Holocaust Memorial

Suffice to say, the simple black concrete pillars in the memorial park are memorable and moving enough on their own, but the museum and the archive below ground are simply stunning.  What happened from 1933 – 1945 is almost beyond belief but it is there in all its stark reality, with real stories, real photos and real people.  The irony, if you like, is that the site the memorial has been built on is just a short distance from where Adolf Hitlers bunker is buried!

Berlin is a great city, with much to offer, and much to get excited about!  It is a modern, thriving metropolis but it has a history, and that history is well represented by these two memorials,and others like them, that need to be visited, viewed and understood.  We spent a memorable day, that in my view is the highlight, so far of our visit to Berlin!  I expect it will stay that way.

Peter Watson

08/09/2013