Potsdam

\We took a day trip to Potsdam on one of our days off.  Compared to Berlin, especially hanging out in Ost Berlin most of the time, it was charming.  Honestly, the three guys and I had no idea what we were doing.  We simply rode the S7 (construction was being done on the S1) all the way to the end of the line to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof (you need a 3-zone ticket), got out and wandered around with a tiny map we'd picked up at the train station.  The tree-lined streets and quaint houses were what I'd pictured Germany to be like but hadn't seen yet in my first week in Berlin.

Potsdam - Gardens and Summer Palace

We spent most of our time at the Sanssouci Palace Complex, Frederick the Great's summer palace, which had some of the prettiest gardens and buildings that I've seen. We didn't go in the buildings (after a certain amoung of time baying 12 euros to go into a castle to see more period furniture just seems like a waste), but instead spent a lovely afternoon taking funny pictures around the beautiful French-style gardens.  I would highly recommend a day trip to Sanssouci over spending half a day at the Schloss Charlottenberg in Berlin because it's a more secluded, relaxed setting and the gardens are fantastic.

Potsdam - Gardens

After we finished with Sanssouci, we wanted to see the hiking and biking around the lakes of the region, which we'd been recommended.  We decided to risk it on the Potsdam public transportation (you need a separate ticket for the city bus and tram lines) without buying tickets.  We said that we'd pretend we thought that our 3-zone Berlin S-bahn tickets worked (which, by the way, wouldn't have passed any ticket inspector, especially considering that none of us spoke a word of German).  So, we hopped on a bus (we had no idea where it was going), but we felt like it was in the direction of some lake, and eventually after 20 minutes into a quiet, residential area, we got off.  We were waiting at the stop to get on in the other direction when lo and behold we notice the badge of a ticket inspector waiting at the stop as well.  Considering the fact that we'd been talking about not having tickets and we were obviously American tourists, we decided it would be lunacy to get on this bus, so we started walking back, stopping at a Supermarket that had much cheaper prices than our local Aldi.  Eventually, we caught a bus back to hauptbahnhof where we returned to Berlin.  I can say that our day trip was a fun adventure but that better planning would have allowed us to do much more.

Potsdam - Church and Street

Potsdam - Sanssouci Palace