Pretty Potsdam

In 2012, Germany celebrated the Year of the Beer Garden and the 300th birthday of Frederick the Great. 

In August 2012, Red Baron was in Potsdam visiting an exhibition called Friederisiko, stressing Alte Fritz's hazardous attitudes as a warmonger.

This visit was part of a cultural tour of the Prussian town southwest of Berlin with its beautiful parks, castles, and historical buildings.

When I was in Berlin last weekend, I took the S-Bahn from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof, the latter being the city's prominent but not the central station.

Straight ahead is the rebuilt Stadtschloss; the dome of St. Nikolai church is to the right.

Stepping out of the station building, I had to cross a bridge over the Havel River to reach the rebuilt Stadtschloss (city palace) that now houses the parliament of the State of Brandenburg.

St. Nikolai church

A couple of shiny buildings are behind the city castle around the Alter Markt (old market).

Potsdam Museum for Art & History and to the left, Café Central

Museum Barberini

All of these places except for the church were closed, but the court of the Stadtschloss was open to the public.

The northern part of the Alter Markt was in the planning stage for historical reconstruction.

They also plan to rebuild Potsdam's synagogue, destroyed on November 9, 1938, during the Reichskristallnacht.

On my way to the center, I passed the Neuer Markt, where the Waage (scales) had been transformed into a restaurant.

Heading for Brandenburger Straße, I admired the beautifully refurbished buildings on Wilhelm-Staab-Straße.

I rested at Bäckerei und Konditorei (bakery and confectionery) Fahland on Brandenburger Straße for a pot of coffee and a piece of Leipziger Mohnkuchen (poppy-seed cake) and had visitors; not only wasps. 

I met a new kind of bird. It looked like a crow, although in Freiburg, crows are always entirely black and are called Schwarze Rabenkrähe (black raven crow). In Potsdam, crows are gray and black. 

  

This kind is called Nebelkrähe (fog crow). The birds picked up crumbs around my outdoor table that somebody had left behind.

Further explanations I found in Wikipedia, where I learned when looking at the map that Potsdam is at the border where Hooded and Carrion crows meet but do not mate.

Later, while walking between Brandenburg Gate and Nauener Gate, I had chanterelles sautées for lunch sitting outside.

On my way back to Berlin, I passed Wannsee station. The name printed in this old font made me shiver.

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