Werder and Caputh

Whenever I look at a map of Potsdam or Berlin I always find new surrounding towns that I want to visit. Yesterday I crossed two off my list.

I took the train to Werder and then a bus to the old town. Yesterday was hotter than the day before and the sun was unyielding. I chose a bad time to travel - right when the sun was at its peak and shining with full force.

 A memorial to victims of the Stasi.

Several gravestones had these stickers warning that the stones were loose and accidents might happen.  Many of the loose stones were actually from the last couple of years.

 

When I arrived at the edge of the altstadt island I discovered a boat was arriving in five or so minutes. I had planned to take a boat on the other side of the island straight to Potsdam a few hours later, but this timing made me get on this boat. At least on the water there would be a breeze.

 I have no idea what this or where it is, but it's so pretty!

I got off the boat at Schloss Caputh, which I discovered is pronounced kaput. Awesome.

I sat on a bench near the Schloss for a while, just resting in the shade. Then I walked into town and stopped for an ice cream (watermelon and raspberry, my current favourite pair). I was clearly so hot that I forgot to take photos of anything. I checked the train schedule for how to get back to Potsdam and decided to walk down the street to a bridge, cross the river and then up to the train station, to catch the train leaving 45 minutes later.

A pretty random bridge to be full of locks...

Google maps gave me some incorrect information about which side of the street the train station was on, but nevertheless, I arrived at the deserted station with about six minutes to spare.

This train is a small regional train with only eight stations and it only leaves once an hour. I was looking at the train map when I heard it approach but I turned around to see it zoom past the station. It took me a minute to process what just happened. I turned back to the schedule and noticed that it said something to the effect of "the train only stops on request".  There was no indication of how to actually make a request for the stop, and the train was going too fast for the driver to be checking for someone on the platform. I know trams and buses require stop requests, but trains? Hourly trains?

So, my only options were to either figure out how to request a stop and wait an hour for the next train, or walk back to Caputh and take the bus. Of course I choose the bus, and I took the short route back to town, which includes the 50 cent ferry that takes about eight cars plus cyclists and pedestrians across the river.

By the time I finally arrived at the bus stop, I was an exhausted sweaty mess. I'm not sure how many more days of this heat I can handle.