Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Mom and I woke up at 07:30 this morning so we could get our bags packed before heading out for the day. Dad was still not feeling well and opted to remain at the hotel until it was time to head to the airport later in the afternoon. After we got ready, mom and I left our bags with reception so we could do some more sightseeing today.
We had several options available for the day, ranging from going to see more of the Berlin Wall to museums. I suggested we go to Charlottenburg Palace on the outskirts of town and mom seemed quite keen on the idea – we both like touring former royal palaces. We had a quick breakfast at a café across from the hotel and then went to take the U-Bahn out to Charlottenburg. The walk from the station to the palace itself was short and pleasant, and we stopped to get some butter pretzels along the way. This had become a favorite food for mom after I introduced her to it, and it is something I always eat whenever I’m in Germany.
Charlottenburg Palace is a Baroque-style palace that was built in the early 1700s for the wife of Frederik III, the Elector of Brandenburg, named Charlotte (hence the name of the palace itself). The original palace was then extended to be more opulent when Frederik became the King in Prussia because he wanted to demonstrate his royal palace like Versailles. The famed Amber Room was originally built for Charlottenburg Palace, with the walls covered in decorative amber. This room was later presented to Tsar Peter the Great as a gift in 1716, who had it installed in Tsarkoye Selo (the room was looted by the Nazis during the Second World War and its whereabouts remain a mystery).
Mom and I bought admission tickets to tour the entire palace and began our visit in the old palace (Altes Schloss). This section of the palace contained many stunning state rooms, with tapestries and paintings covering the walls, gold-covered decorations on the walls and ceilings, and some beautiful chandeliers. Each room had a different decorating style, typically with it’s own unique coloring (red, green, etc). The Porcelain Cabinet reminded us of the Green Vault in Dresden, with dozens upon dozens of porcelain pieces on display on every wall. At the end, we perused the museum gift shop (one of mom’s favorite things to do) and she bought a few things to give the grandkids, while I bought a postcard for my sister.
We then moved to the new wing of the palace (Neuer Flügel), which had been heavily damaged by bombing during the Second World War. While it had been restored in the year since, many of the rooms lacked the ornate décor of the old palace. Frederik the Great had used the new wing during his reign and we were able to tour several of his state rooms. The most impressive room was the large ballroom with windows overlooking the gardens, with gold décor lining the walls and ceiling. Mom and I both thoroughly enjoyed our time touring both sections of the palace and were very happy with our decision to visit Charlottenburg this morning.
When we were done with the palace itself, we spent some time walking through the modest gardens. A small canal ran along one side of the gardens and we followed this as we took a leisurely stroll. There was an S-Bahn station located near the far end of the gardens where we could take the train back to Alexanderplatz, so we were able to fully enjoy the wooded parts of the gardens while we walked to the train.
Upon arrival at the train station, we discovered that the trains were not running for some inexplicable reason. Luckily there was an U-Bahn station a short walk away, so we hurriedly made our way there to take the metro to the city center. We were both interested in visiting the Berliner Dom and climbing to the top of the cathedral’s dome. When we arrived, we discovered that the only way to access the dome was to first pay an entrance fee for the cathedral itself as well. While we were both very interested in climbing to the top of the dome, we were put off by having to pay an entrance fee for the cathedral itself. In the end, we decided to skip it entirely (I regretted this later because I think mom would have preferred to do it regardless).
Instead, we walked over to the Berliner Palace nearby. I was interested to see what the palace itself looked like since the reconstruction work had finished. I was disappointed to find that much of the interior areas of the courtyards were modern and didn’t retain the historical style of the palace itself. I wished that they had just rebuilt the palace according to how it originally looked.
Mom and I then walked back to Alexanderplatz so we could get something to eat before heading to the airport. We returned to the doner kebab place at the train station, where we had a quick lunch. Dad was waiting for us in the hotel lobby when we returned at 14:00 and then it was time to head out to the airport. We took the train to the airport at 14:30, during which time dad had several coughing fits; he was clearly not feeling better despite the days of resting at the hotel. It was unfortunate that he had been sick during our time in Berlin and had to miss so much, but at least he was able to get out to see some of the city on our first day.
Everything went quickly at the airport and, at 18:05, our flight departed for Paris. We landed a couple hours later at Orly Airport and decided to take the metro into the city. At the ticketing machine, I bought three tickets for us, but it only printed out one actual ticket. I made it through the turnstile, but they were unable to use the additional fares on the ticket. Mom got stressed out about the ordeal, but thankfully a member of staff were able to assist and get it sorted out.
The train took us directly to Gare de Lyon, where we bought some drinks and snacks for dinner this evening before walking back to the hotel. The remainder of the night was spent hanging out at the hotel, watching Olympic coverage on TV, and then heading to bed.
Our whirlwind time in Berlin had been packed with sightseeing and it was a nice break from the Olympics. My mom thoroughly enjoyed our time and was pleasantly surprised by everything that we saw and did in Berlin. Now it was back to Paris though, and time for the final three days of attending the Olympics!
This featured blog entry was written by Glichez from the blog Europe, Paris Olympics, & Asia 2024.
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