I started Tuesday by walking down Kurfurstendamm, a famous shopping street that's allegedly modelled on the Champs Elysees (but is clearly inferior). I then strolled around the Charlottenburg Palace Gardens, before moving on to the East Side Gallery and the Berlin Wall Memorial. This led to me comforting myself afterwards with a glass of wine.
Today was spent in Potsdam, touring Palace Sans Souci and its gardens, as well as the historic town centre. Potsdam is only about 35 km outside of Berlin, which makes it one of the most convenient day trips you can do. It was for that reason I decided to go there instead of Dresden, which is further away (I've spent enough time on trains over the past three weeks, thank you very much.).
Potsdam seems like a decent city, but its appeal is very limited in winter. The famous gardens lie dormant, as do several of its palaces. Sans Souci was nice, but honestly no more impressive than any other castle I've seen during this trip. I did get to indulge my inner IR nerd and see Cecilienhof Palace, the site of the Potsdam Conference in 1945.
One of the best things about being in Berlin is getting to stand in places where history was created - Brandenburg Gate, the wall, Cecilienhof , and more. I feel like coming here isn't about being a tourist; it's also about educating yourself and coming to grips with some very ugly history. I wouldn't recommend Berlin for its architecture, but I think it's a city that everyone should visit at least once in their lives.
Thankfully, the weather has been cooperative for the last couple of days, and I got to enjoy Berlin in its sunny gory (for the most part). I've been fortunate to meet some great people over the course of my trip, especially during this last week. It's so great to see more and more women travelling alone. Makes me feel like I'm part of some big sisterhood.
Tomorrow, I use my Interrail pass for the last time to take a morning train down to Stuttgart. I'll be reunited with my Durham flatmate, Mary, and I plan to spend the next few days seeing the city and its neighbour, Heidelberg (which everyone says is absolutely gorgeous). After that, my time on the continent is up, and I return to London.
I'm going to save the mushy wrap-up for the actual end of my travels, but I want to thank everyone who's bothered to read even a paragraph of my ramblings. I created this blog so that I could have a diary of my trip, and I feel satisfied that it will be a nice addition to my memories. I hope that this week isn't the last I get to use it, but time will tell how possible that is.
Peace out.
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