Potsdam

Sanssouci Palace

Sanssouci Palace

Sanssouci Palace

Sanssouci Palace

Hallo! I'm back and nearly recovered! Berlin was brilliant but I feel completely exhausted from all the walking and exploring we did. It feels so strange to be stationary and at home!

I thought I'd break up the pictures a bit as I took quite a few (400 to be precise - yikes!). I shall begin with our trip to the beautiful and historic town of Potsdam. We got up extremely early on our first day in Berlin to take the train there. It took around 45 minutes and it was incredibly cheap in comparison to trains here -  only 7 euro! Potsdam has hundreds of parks, palaces and castles so it's best to decide which to visit before you arrive. We opted for Sanssouci Park, it's the best known but also one of the largest and most beautiful in Potsdam. It's home to several palaces including the mini Versailles, a mock Roman bathhouse and a functioning windmill (amongst many other delights).  Sanssouci is actually a French phrase that translates as carefree or without worries. The whole park exudes this sort of care free calm.  We spent around 6 hours walking and visiting various palaces, we could of easily spent 6 more! It was so incredible that it was hard not to keep going but we had to stop due to our aching feet and tired limbs! I'd love to revisit Potsdam. I didn't see even half of what I wanted to (Babelsburg Castle and Alexandrowka are both on the agenda for next time).

My favourite place of the entire day was definitely the Chinese House. It was breathtaking. Every surface was painted or gilded and the relief sculptures were utterly fabulous. A close second would have to be the last room in the Sanssouci Palace - a wonderful yellow bedroom with plaster reliefs of parrots across the walls and ceiling, and an iron flower chandelier. I wasn't supposed to snap pictures but I got one before I was told off sharply by an attendant.    

All in all I couldn't recommend Potsdam enough. There is so much to see, I almost wish I'd been staying there instead of in Berlin so I could of packed more things in! The historic town is wonderful, full of pastel coloured buildings straight out of Wes Anderson's A Grand Budapest Hotel. 

Sanssouci Palace

Sanssouci Palace

Chinese House

Chinese House

Chinese House

Chinese House, interior

Chinese House, ceiling

Chinese House, interior

My outfit inspiration for the day was ornate palaces (obviously!) I've had this dress for years and years and it finely came into it's own against the interiors of Sanssouci! The hat is a recent acquisition from my local charity shop. It hasn't left my head since I got it. I hated the colour orange previously but it's recently grown on me enormously and now I can't get enough of it. It was perfectly suited to the Autumnal colours of Berlin's 5000 (!) trees! 

Roman Baths

Roman Baths

Charlottenhof Palace 

Charlottenhof Palace

Charlottenhof Palace

Orangery Palace

Windmill 

New Chambers, interior

New Chambers, interior

New Chambers, interior

New Chambers, interior (me pretending to be a post courtier) 

New Chambers, interior

New Chambers

Windmill

Sanssouci Palace, ceiling

Sanssouci Palace, interior

That's all for today but I'll be back with more snaps of our trip and a review of the new Liberty exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum over the next few days.

The Orangery

New Chambers

Outfit Details

1960s silk paisley dress - car boot sale

1960s orange velvet hat - charity shop

Russell & Bromley loafers - charity shop

1960s Aquascutum coat - car boot sale

Paisley fringed scarf - car boot sale

Italian silk scarf - belonged to my Great Aunt

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