Following Leipzig, I spent a day in a completely different DDR city, Potsdam, the former residence of the Prussian Royal Family/Emperors of Germany. Like Regensburg, large swathes of Potsdam are UNESCO heritage listed and it's also a university town. In fact, Z had classes in various buildings within the Sanssouci Park! But in contrast to the Mediaeval cuteness of Regensburg, Potsdam is a little Baroque/Rococo jewellery box of pastel colours! The small cuteness of Potsdam resulted in the production of a new German word - Potsdamchen. It's a combination of the name Potsdam with the suffix *chen* implying something cute and beloved - e.g. Madchen (little girl) or Liebchen (sweetheart).
The New Palace of Sanssouci, now part of the University of Potsdam
Z had her Maths lectures in the palace on the far right!
The Park of Sanssouci. Z said it was great during Spring-Summer when walking from a building of one side of the park to lectures on the other side. It was less great in Winter.
and the panorama shot.
(I joke, I joke)
and was decorated with gilt statues of people from all over the world enjoying tea!
Looking back through the gardens to the New Palace/University.
In contrast to the grandeur of the buildings leading up to Sanssouci, the actual palace was a fairly small one-story building with an unimpressive front facade (of which it appears I took no photos) but an awesome optical illusion rear garden!
Being a tourist at the rear facade. It consists of many levels of terraced vineyard which makes the entire garden look HUGE!!!
And the gardens were full of colourful pretty spring flowers in bloom *contented sigh*.
Just in case you didn't know where you were
Looking from the front facade towards (fake) ruins.
And this old Windmuehle was right next to the Palace too.
After being overloaded with cute, we went to the centre of Potsdam for lunch and to look at other things.
These include *real* Brandenberg Tor - the one in Berlin (ending of a stage of the Amazing Race where that awful man pushed his wife around) was built after this one! Not far from here was the Holländisches Viertel, a few streets which look like they were transplanted from the Netherlands! Super cute.
And of course, Cecilienhof, last palace built by the Hohenzollern family and site of the Potsdam Conference
Other than Ostersonntag lunch, I ended my Easter sojourn in the east by taking part in a tradition from these parts - the Osterfeuer where on Easter Saturday, each village lights a giant bonfire to 'burn away winter'. There's a celebratory atmosphere and you can get beer sold by the local firefighters.
The local beer - a Pilsener. Thomas (Z's bf, a native Munchener) and I didn't like it much due to the bitter flavour - it's no Augustiner Helles! Actually, it probably tastes a bit like Australian beer, which is saying something.
Thomas pointed out that things like the local fussball and firefighter clubs are the only things to really do to amuse oneself in these small villages, but I still found it cool!
Ostersonntag was then a lazy day comprising of lying in Z's parents' (really lovely) garden, reading books, then a hearty lunch comprising of roasted meats, local Spargel, another vegetable dish that I can't remember the name of other than the fact it was called *Schwarz-something* (despite being white) and potatoes, and lots of chocolate. It was awesome. I then bid the family "auf Wiedersehen" and boarded a train back in Leipzig to head back to Bavaria.
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