Auf wiedersehen

This will be the final Germany post until I go back and write something more detailed for a couple high points, like the time I flew a plane (pun intended), or meeting the apiary colonists.  The day we left Berlin was mostly a lot of time in the car. I'd already decided to try fighting a vicious European head cold by then, so I was relatively content to sit in the back, stare out the window, and try to remember what it felt like to breathe.

The Bridge of Spies

Our drive took us to Potsdam, with a stop at the edge of town to see the Bridge of Spies. I was excited about that, because I'd heard of it already, but I honestly didn't have any idea how it had gotten that nickname. The only sign explaining why it was the Bridge of Spies was in German, so I didn't find out until I got home and had Wikipedia access that it was used during the Cold War to exchange captured spies and political prisoners because it served as a physical link between East Germany and West Berlin.

One of the statues on the Bridge of Spies: a swimming centaur strangling a fish.

We had no particular plan (that I knew) for Potsdam, but it's a nice town for wandering. We looked in a few small shops, and walked down streets full of pedestrians and cafe furniture, with little to no room for auto traffic. I liked those streets.

Residential Potsdam.

A long row of these tiles were the only indication of the route of a bike path across a wide plaza.

I later learned that there was a plan for Potsdam, but it had been plotted in German, working on the assumption that I would, as always, go with the flow. They were right.

At some point, the King of Prussia (not the town in Pennsylvania) built a palace here. I was led to believe that it was his summer home. Not a bad place to hang out with some lemonade.

You can tell it's a grand palace because my camera lens didn't have a wide enough angle to photograph all of it.

Now the palace grounds are a public park, and you can get tours of the buildings for a small fee. We still had to get to Frankfurt, so we were content to walk through the grounds looking at fountains, gardens, statuary, and immaculately groomed paths. It's good to be king.

Google Awesomed this photo. I'm ok with that.

I think this statue shows how to harvest Sea Babies. Honestly, I was just impressed at how much negative space is in that net. 

The rest of the day was Car Time. We checked in to a tiny hotel which turned out to be literally (correct usage) around the corner from Ginko's building. We met him again that night for dinner, and he got up early to join us for breakfast as well (at a cafe which was on said corner. We planned well for Frankfurt).

In Germany, it's legal to walk down the street drinking a beer. We tried it. It felt strange.

No mints on the pillows here. Germany is weird.