Sunday, January 16

This morning I arrived at the right location for church, but found a large group of people on the sidewalk. It looked like they had just gotten out of church. However, I didn’t see anyone I recognized and couldn't find the little church group. I finally decided to just head home. 

After everyone got dressed and we ate a traditional Turkish lunch (flat bread with sausage), we were going to head out the door to look at some castles! 

Potsdam is very near Berlin and is known for its castles. A lot of celebrities live in Potsdam. We visited a castle that is located on the top of a hill. It didn’t look very large until we got up right next to it. There were statues everywhere on the roof of the castles and all over in the garden. The statues in the gardens are made of marble though and so were covered so the snow and ice wouldn’t crack them. The statues on the castles themselves were big!

The first castle we went to was Friedrich the Great’s, the Sanssouci, meaning “no worries”. Visit the following link to see a few pictures: http://www.germanplaces.com/germany/sanssouci-potsdam-sights.html Friedrich the Great is buried there next to his beloved dogs. His gardens are tiered with steps leading down to a huge fountain. As you look back up to the castle, on every tier there are glass windows where he kept plants during the winter months. The plants survived in their glass cases because they were in constant sunshine since they face south. We didn’t go in the castle on this visit, but Mark said we would come back.

There is a long walkway through gardens to Friedrich’s son’s castle, which is monstrous compared to his fathers. The grounds are extensive! Across from the son’s palace are two smaller, but still large and grand buildings. Mark said one was probably for servants while the other was probably for concubines. There are places where you can walk on the original cobblestone driveway. I can’t imagine being a horse and having to walk on those stones all the time. That would hurt!

We tried to go to an authentic German restaurant, but they were out of the really German foods, so we ended up going back to the house and enjoying the fire. After the girls went to bed, Mark, Nancy and I watched “Salt”. I’ve been wanting to see it, but it didn’t end how the previews had led me to believe it would. Good action though.

After the movie, I skyped mom and dad and talked to them for about an hour. It was so much fun! I’ve really been missing my family this week, especially since I didn’t hear from mom and dad.