Tuesday 17th August

Berlin
In the morning we had an orientation drive around Berlin. Among things other I learnt was that at The Humboldt university The Brothers Grimm were professors and they invented the dictionary. We had a local guide who gave us far more info then we could absorb.
We visited Frederick the Great’s burial spot. He was buried, not with his wife but with his 11 dogs. They all had their own plot with a cement top with their name on it. I’m sure Charlie would appreciate this.

This was a palace in the rococo style with beautiful gardens and some Greek style architecture.

We also went to Potsdam. , about half an hour from Berlin. We visited the place where the Potsdam agreement was made. The place was home to one of the crown princes of Prussia until 1940’s. It was a beautiful place with beautiful gardens, a lake and beautiful furnishings. It is now part museum and part hotel. It is now a UNESCO site. The rooms were beautiful and we were in the rooms that Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met and we were in the room that the agreement was signed. During the cold war it was behind the Berlin wall and the lake became part of no man’s land. Even the local people were unaware that the lake even existed.
We lunch in the middle of Berlin at one of the local restaurants and walked the streets see the war ruins of a church in the centre of town. Bombed during war, thee remains have been left in tact and a new church built next to it.
We have heard a lot about the goings on during the war and the cold war. The stories of the times of both were a bit chilling at times.
Berlin is a beautiful city and we look forward to returning at the end of the bus tour. We had dinner at a local Berlin restaurant. Thirteen of us walked a couple of hundred meters down the road to a local German restaurant and managed to make ourselves understood and had a great meal. Off to bed.