Potsdam Diaries: Weekend Travels

Glienicker Brucke, also known as the Bridge of Spies, spans the Havel river between the erstwhile Soviet-occupied Potsdam and US-occupied West Berlin during the Cold War. According to our tour guide, the bridge was used by spies from both areas to meet. It was also used by both powers to exchange captured enemy agents. And if you observe carefully, the farther half of the bridge has a darker colour than the nearer half!

Cecilienhof, a palace in Neuer Garten, was built in English Tudor style by Kaiser Wilhelm II between 1914 and 1917 for his Crown Prince (another Wilhelm), and his wife Cecilie, after whom the palace takes its name. It was also the venue of the Potsdam Conference of 1945 after the defeat of Nazi Germany, where Churchill (and later Atlee), Stalin and Harry S Truman gathered to decide the fate of Germany.

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The wishing well at Cecilienhof (above)

Below: This star of red geraniums framed with blue hydrangeas was planted in July 1945 for the coming conference of the "Big Three".

With Vivek and Musadhique

This pyramid was the 'fridge' of the royal family... in winters, ice was taken from the frozen lake to line the cellars of the pyramid where food would then be stored!

With Min, a Vietnamese girl studying in Potsdam, and Delia, a Spanish engineering student currently interning in Potsdam. The building behind us is a huge greenhouse. The photo was taken by Quynh, Min's husband.

The view from the top of a double-decker bus in Berlin, on our way to Fort Hahneberg.

And this is Fort Hahneberg, hidden away in Berlin. Part heritage building, part nature reserve. Fort Hahneberg was a fortress built in the late 1800s to protect another citadel in Berlin. It was used by German soldiers until 1945 as a place for training, storing ammunition and medical supplies. But you'll get all that info from Wikipedia or something. The important thing is, a few scenes of Quentin Tarantino's Ingourious Basterds were shot here!

Above: Vivek and Musadhique. The building behind these two guys was used by soldiers to keep a watch on the trenches and shoot any intruders. However, during the second world war, this fort was not attacked and, slowly, the building became a casino for the officers!

Below: No, this part of the building was not demolished by the war. After the war, there were several houses and other civilian buildings that needed repair, and the German government gave the order that the fort -- by then a despised memory of Nazism and war -- could be demolished and bricks and material taken from it for these repairs. However, the fort was built to stand severe cannon fire, and the dynamites had to finally retreat in defeat.

Bats live within the walls of this fortress which is also a nature reserve.

Now Sandra, our guide, explains to us exactly where Brad Pitt was sitting in this scene from Inglourious Basterds.

Apparently, the Nazis used to line up prisoners -- mostly their own soldiers who were there for misconduct -- against this wall and shoot them. Or so they say.

A bullet embedded in the wall.

From here, we can watch the bugs that are protected in the valley below.

And this is inside Park Sanssouci, Potsdam. Sanssouci, meaning "without sorrows" or "without care" was a summer palace built for King Frederick of Prussia in Rococo style around 1745. It was later occupied by Frederick William IV in the 19th century.