Pfingstberg

It was a nice day yesterday, so I finally decided to climb the Pfingstberg. I started my walk on the grounds of Schloss Cecilienhof, where the leaves in the water told me autumn is around the corner.

I like this little archway and debated walking around the lake to read for a bit, but then I noticed there were dozens of people who had already had the same thought. 

Dutch houses on the grounds.

 I love these trees with peeling bark. I have no idea what they are.

The walk to the Pfingstberg itself wasn't spectacular. It was a warm day, so the uphill climb was a little tiring. At a fork in the road I had the option between a cobbled path and a dirt path. I chose cobbled, which turned out to be the more direct and uphill option. 

At the top there was either no place to get a good photo of the Belvedere, I forgot to take one, or I was too lazy to search for a good spot. I can't remember which was the case. But I did take a bunch of photos of building details.

The red light at the bottom of the stairs warns if people are currently using the stairs, and the sign says to wait for the green light. I waited and started to climb but soon ran into THREE people coming down the stairs. The last guy asked me if the light was green and I told him yes, of course it was. When I climbed down the stairs at the end I discovered the light at the top wasn't working.

I did not choose the clearest day to climb to the best view over Potsdam.

I want to live here.

It looks like Berlin's TV tower in the distance here, but I can't be sure this was facing that direction, or that the tower would be visible from Potsdam.

I cut through the Waldpark, a part of the Volkspark, on the way to the tram stop, but this time I didn't pay the one euro entry fee. I decided since I was only using the path and not the basketball courts or anything else, my visit should be free! And speaking of basketball courts/art installations...

There were four of these paths, with green glass covering the entire pathway. Another art installation?

And a statue of Lenin, like every good East German park.

Marquardt

Marquardt is a tiny suburb of Potsdam that I discovered a few months ago on a trip home from somewhere up north. I planned an alternate route to Potsdam that avoided driving through Berlin, and instead we drove through a bunch of small towns. I've wanted to go back, specifically to go fruit picking, but also just to see the town. I finally managed to go yesterday, but just to the schloss, not to the fruit. That just means I need to go back again.

The visit to Marquardt is an example of why I love Berlin and my BVG (transit) pass so much. Potsdam is in Berlin's C zone, and Marquardt is in Potsdam's B zone. And all of it is included in my monthly pass. Sure, the bus and train only run hourly, but it's free to get there, even though it's 40km from the centre of Berlin. I feel like I've explored a lot of Berlin and its surroundings in my time here, but I know there are still so many other places to visit.

I love fields like this.

There were a few ponds like this right next to each other, and whenever I stepped closer to the water I heard a bunch of little splashes as frogs jumped to safety. I tried to get photos of the jumping but was largely unsuccessful.

This is the type of pond water that I think is really pretty, but I'm happy to stay far away and use the zoom to photograph.

Schloss Marquardt is located on Schlänitzsee which has, without doubt, the grossest water I've seen.

And people dock their boats there. Why? There are dozens of lakes around Potsdam/Berlin. Why choose this one?

I found two schloss kitties. 

The schloss and surrounding buildings are empty and barely used. I saw three buildings and one guy working on each. It's such a shame because the buildings and surroundings are so beautiful. I wish I had money so I could buy it and turn it into a hotel or an apartment. I would love to live there. 

I left the schloss grounds (but not by the main entrance, which was locked up... hmmm...) and checked the train schedule. The hourly train left only nine minutes later. I didn't know how long it would take to walk there, but the train gods were in my favour as it arrived just as I stepped on the platform. Lucky me! And the walk to the station was really nice as the town was covered in bunting.

Volkspark Potsdam

I've wanted to visit Volkspark Potsda for a while, because every large patch of green on a map makes me curious.  I took the tram to the far north of Postdam and when I entered the park I discovered it actually costs 1€ to visit!

At the entry to the park I could see the Pfingstberg in the distance.  I wasn't feeling up to an uphill hike, but going there is definitely on my Potsdam to-do list.

The Volkspark itself was... okay.  It's not my type of park, in that it seems to be used more for events than just lounging in the park for the day. And lounging in the park is a very big Berlin thing.  I guess things are different in Potsdam...

When I was already on the tram home I discovered that this building had a dinosaur exhibit.  Maybe they should have put some advertising behind the building as well? Not everyone uses the main entrance.

 This makes me wish I played beach volleyball.

And that was it.  I'm glad I visited, and now I know my way around for their next event, but I won't be making regular visits.

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.