Potsdam (pretty palaces)

On Thursday, we went out to Potsdam with Naomi's visiting friend from college. There are two main palaces there, both mainly associated with Frederick the Great (though other Friedrichs lived in both). The first was a summer palace, called Schloss Sanssouci. It has a terraces vineyard leading up to it. Voltaire stayed there for a couple years. From below, it looks like this:


While the guidebooks highlight Sanssouci, we found the 'Neues Palais' much more impressive. Particularly the interior, which included a gigantic grotto room lined with seashells and polished stones. This is the outside, with its industrial-looking dome:

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We stopped for lunch here, in the 'Dragon House.' One of the best meals we've eaten since being in Germany. Nothing is tastier than fresh dragon.

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This is part of the Orangerie. We took a tour in German through the central apartments, each of which had a different semi-precious stone as a theme. We had to wear slippers over our shoes inside the building. After the tour, we went up to the top of the tower (every orangerie has to have a tower, obviously). But this is a view from the ground:

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The Neues Palais was surrounded by statues. And they're kind of cool - each has a unique expression. This one reminded us of someone...