Berlin Day 7 : Colonnade, Sanssouci

We couldn't have wished for better weather for the last full day of our stay in Berlin. We'd already decided yesterday that this was the day to spread our wings a little bit and head outside the city to Potsdam. Two of the others had been there on Friday, assured us that the journey was straight-forward and quite short, and highly recommended it as a place to go.

They were right. We set out at 11.00 am, by U-Bahn to Zoologischer Garten station (inspiration for U2's Zoo Station), then switched to the S-Bahn for the thirty-minute trip to Potsdam. Potsdam itself is quite a place. The area around the Nikolaikirche is a rather large building site at the moment because of yet another of Germany's grandiose re-construction schemes, but the old town is a wonderfully colourful and atmospheric place to spend some time in. The main attraction, though, is Frederick The Great's Sanssouci Palace and Park. We spent a good few hours wandering around in glorious sunshine, marvelling at the architecture and the lush gardens. It was difficult to decide on a single image to sum up the experience, but this shot of Carl at the grand entrance colonnade was in the short list from the beginning.

We were very restrained in terms of food and rink while in Potsdam, though we did manage to get some shopping done. Still, we needed something to eat when we got back to Berlin and decided on another restaurant close to what had turned into our favourite local spot, the square where we'd eaten on Saturday and again on Monday. This time the restaurant was of a much more rustic nature. We didn't get here until 9.00, which we thought might be a bit late for the Germans, who tend to eat earlier than we would, but we got a table without any difficulty. We had a nice surprise while there, when our resident Group member came along to join us. It made a pleasant and ideal finish to our Berlin stay, and all we felt like doing afterwards was a quick stop in one of our local bars.