Me with Buddy Bear and in front of the 1936 Olympic Stadium
Our last day in Berlin was pretty good!
We didn’t get to make it to any more museums unfortunately but we did
make it out to Potsdam and over to the 1936 Olympic Stadium/Park. After a short metro ride out to Potsdam (and
one bus) we strolled through the giant Sanssouci park. At every turn you’ll find either another
palace of sorts or an entire forest.
Sometimes we thought we were heading into the wilderness but at the next
fork in the road we would see a palace at the end of it. We weren’t sure what the ornate buildings
were for or where the Potsdam Conference was exactly but we enjoyed the park
and eventually stumbled across the downtown area. We didn’t actually know where we were going
but the downtown was really nice! It was
like the downtown of Nuremberg a bit—rather small but still pretty busy.
We caught a bus back to the station and then a train over to the Olympic
Stadium/Park. For only 5 euro we got to
walk around the entire, well, village.
The park reminded me a lot of ECAV in the sense that it was literally an
athletic village. The stadium was
designed in 1933 for the 1936 Olympics and definitely looks like Hitler’s kind
of building. It also had a stand for him
to speak from in front of a massive field (I think it was the Polo field). There was also a huge bell tower we could go
up although the original was destroyed in the war. The stadium has also since had a roof put
over it for the 2006 World Cup. While it was refurbished,
70% of it is still original. It didn’t
just have a stadium. There was a polo
field, the bell tower (the bell for which we saw on the ground at the entrance—it
had the swastika and everything. We’re
guessing it was replaced since there was another one up there), a swimming
stadium, an amphitheater of sorts, a horseback riding training area, a bunch of
soccer fields, and so much more.
We found our way back to the U-Bahn (metro) and over to meet up with one
of Brendan’s friends from high school, Kristine. She’s in Berlin for a quarter from Stanford
and brought along her friend Will. We
had some tasty curryworst and a doner kebab.
It was a good time hanging out with them for a bit before we headed over
to see the Brandenburger Gate at night.
Our last stop was a quick look at the memorial to the murdered Jews of
Europe in the dark which was pretty… well… dark. Now we’re back at the hostel and ready for an
early morning off to Hamburg tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!
One of the many palaces. Not sure what it's called!
Another palace of sorts.
When there weren't palaces, there were just trees. So many trees.
Another place we stumbled across.
Downtown Potsdam!
1936 Olympic Park
The Stadium which was also used for the 2006 World Cup. Straight ahead is the bell tower we went up.
The Torch
The view from the top of the bell tower. This field below is the polo field I was talking about.
Horseback Riding Training
We used a metro pass to get around both days. So nice not to have to walk everywhere.
Curryworst. Quite common in Berlin and so cheap!
Brendan's friend, Kristine, brought along Will. He ordered our doners for us in German hah. They had just changed the meat--it was a new experience seeing that lol.
Spargle... It's everywhere! We never got to try it but saw so much of it. It's a vegetable that just came into season so they'll have stands dedicated to just this asparagus.
Brandenburger Gate at night.
We took the wrong train twice in the same day! We haven't taken any wrong trains so far I don't think but the U-Bahn and S-Bahn can get confusing here. We live on the U2--not the S2 :)
