Given that it was fall vacation, we decided to make the best of it and use the time to go sightseeing while the weather is still good (that being a relative term, as you can see here). We live in a part of Berlin called Charlottenburg, named after the Schloss, or palace of the same name, which in turn was named after Sophie Charlotte, the second and beloved wife of Frederick the First of Prussia. He had three wives, but she was the best. She was the center of intellectual circles in Prussia, a lover of art and science, and by all accounts, was a great beauty for the time (we saw several portraits of her in the palace, and our guide wryly noted that 'times change'). She shows up along with several others in the palace in The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson which Rob has been reading obsessively since before we left the states. We managed to visit three different wings and tour the rooms on Thursday, and went back to visit the gardens and outlying buildings on Saturday. Don't ask me what those white statues are about. I don't know, and I don't understand why they couldn't get a leftie to guard the other palace gate, or why they are holding shields if they are naked. Seems to me you ought to put on some clothes before you try to protect anyone else.
This is the back view across the lake and gardens. Like most things in town, it was heavily damaged during the war (that whole dome you see was smashed to smithereens) and was reconstructed up until 1980, when funds were used up and put into other things. A lot of the tour consists of detailing what is original and where other things came from/went to/how they were preserved.
It has lovely and extensive grounds with lots of English gardens, a few French gardens, and ponds and bridges and tree-lined walks. We saw lots of rowers skulling along the river Spree (their coxwains were loud and sounded mean -- I would not like to be on a Prussian crew!). Maddie and Will made dandelion chains, taunted the swans with their shoes, chose their favorite rooms on the tour, and picked out strange things to look for in the porcelain museum (a two headed dog, an egg with the Wartburg on it, cactus china, etc.).
After we had done everything there was to do at Charlottenburg palace, we missed our bus, and decided to wander instead of wait. We found a fun playground and Sebastian rode on his first zip line over here.
So did MA!
And of course Maddie and Will took several turns apiece. It began to rain again, and we walked home, stopping for ice cream on the way. McFarlands don't really believe that it's quickly becoming fall.
And after a long, cold day of sightseeing, what could be better than some abendbrot (evening bread) and a hot bath? We are all tuckered out!
Given that it was fall vacation, we decided to make the best of it and use the time to go sightseeing while the weather is still good (that being a relative term, as you can see here). We live in a part of Berlin called Charlottenburg, named after the Schloss, or palace of the same name, which in turn was named after Sophie Charlotte, the second and beloved wife of Frederick the First of Prussia. He had three wives, but she was the best. She was the center of intellectual circles in Prussia, a lover of art and science, and by all accounts, was a great beauty for the time (we saw several portraits of her in the palace, and our guide wryly noted that 'times change'). She shows up along with several others in the palace in The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson which Rob has been reading obsessively since before we left the states. We managed to visit three different wings and tour the rooms on Thursday, and went back to visit the gardens and outlying buildings on Saturday. Don't ask me what those white statues are about. I don't know, and I don't understand why they couldn't get a leftie to guard the other palace gate, or why they are holding shields if they are naked. Seems to me you ought to put on some clothes before you try to protect anyone else.
This is the back view across the lake and gardens. Like most things in town, it was heavily damaged during the war (that whole dome you see was smashed to smithereens) and was reconstructed up until 1980, when funds were used up and put into other things. A lot of the tour consists of detailing what is original and where other things came from/went to/how they were preserved.
It has lovely and extensive grounds with lots of English gardens, a few French gardens, and ponds and bridges and tree-lined walks. We saw lots of rowers skulling along the river Spree (their coxwains were loud and sounded mean -- I would not like to be on a Prussian crew!). Maddie and Will made dandelion chains, taunted the swans with their shoes, chose their favorite rooms on the tour, and picked out strange things to look for in the porcelain museum (a two headed dog, an egg with the Wartburg on it, cactus china, etc.).
After we had done everything there was to do at Charlottenburg palace, we missed our bus, and decided to wander instead of wait. We found a fun playground and Sebastian rode on his first zip line over here.
So did MA!
And of course Maddie and Will took several turns apiece. It began to rain again, and we walked home, stopping for ice cream on the way. McFarlands don't really believe that it's quickly becoming fall.
And after a long, cold day of sightseeing, what could be better than some abendbrot (evening bread) and a hot bath? We are all tuckered out!
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