Berlin; Sunday, 19 February, 2006

Its Sunday, I am in Berlin and I have already been messed up by an airline this holiday, so it must be time to visit Potsdam. Except this time, it is planned and I do get to go into the palaces.

First stop is Schloß Sanssouci built as a get away for the king from everyone except his closest friends this is a small and quite homely palace. It's only got about 12 rooms and covers just one floor. The guided tour is interesting, but only in German. Thankfully, you can read a paper translation to each room.

From there it was a stiff 15-minute walk, through the park, to the Neues Palais, the one I visited last time. This is slightly more impressive as it has over 200 rooms. However, you only get to see a few of them on the guided tour you are taken around on. Once again, it is in German only with written translations. However, it is well worth it as one of the final rooms, the Marble hall is spectacular. Two stories high, covering half the width of the palace it is simply breathtaking. The only drawback is that in the case of both palaces you have to wear silly slipper things over your shoes!

I caught the bus back into Potsdam and the train back into Berlin with enough time to visit yet another palace (or at least part of one). Schloß Charlottenburg was one of the city centre palaces for the royal family. It has been built in stages, and the part I went to see was the new wing. This is another spectacular palace with lots of over elaborate decoration and proof that some people really did have too much money! An audio guide takes you around the palace, which lasts about 1 hour.

On the way back from Schloß Charlottenburg, I got off the train at Potsdamer Platz. I was amazed at how much had changed in less than two years since I had last been. I decided that it needed more time to look at and would come back tomorrow. From Potsdamer Platz I wandered onto Checkpoint Charlie to do some tacky souvenir shopping before grabbing a bite to eat and heading back over to Berlin Zoo.

On the main road by Berlin Zoo is the Europa centre, a 20 storey building which, from the 20th floor, commands stunning views over the city centre. On a clear night, as tonight was, the views are excellent, from the Radio tower in the west, across to the TV tower in the east and further. The top floor also, conveniently, has a bar attached!

After spending some significant time up here, I got the lift back down and made my way back to the hotel.