In my last act of solo tourist-ish-ness, I took a trip south to see Fredrick the Great’s Palace Sanssouci in Potsdam. I took the S-Bahn to Potsdam and then kind of randomly got on a tram headed for the palace complex and got off, also a bit randomly, at the tip of the gardens in the far upper right hand corner

 It worked perfectly though and I got to walk through the gardens, more of a forest really, down toward the palace.

Even though we’re in Germany, I definitely thought “all roads lead to Rome” when I got to this scenic jumble of ruins

that were built ruined, exactly like this, to mimic Roman ruins and create “apparently natural landscape scenery” for the king to gaze upon from his palace. It’s good to be the king.

This colonnade continues the Roman theme even though the rest of the palace mimics Versailles. Just, you know, an intimate little summer home away from the pomp of the Berlin court.

These gazebos on either end of the palace are very different looking though

They create a rococo-esque look to match the Rococo palace, only with metal instead of marble

All the statuary around the palace grounds pays homage to the Romans, representing many Roman gods and the four elements.

I think this is a water allegory?

Because that’s a little merbaby in her net

Lord only knows what this lady is. A sphinx maybe?

But that baby doesn’t look happy for a good reason. No one messes with mama.

The statues in the front of this palace are more Roman gods, blessed with just a tiny bit of sunshine today.

I didn’t go inside the palace. I think after 5 weeks and 4 countries, I’m getting a bit blasé about giant ornate buildings. Sometimes it’s enough just to see them from the outside and be able to loll about on a bench in palace grounds. That, more than anything, means it’s time to go home! I need to regain my touristy sense of wonder if nothing else.

I do love, however, that 3euros brings me to a palace where I can wander the grounds and sit and read by the fountains amidst statuary that dates back 300+ years. That’s one of the greatest things about living in Europe and I took full advantage of it today. I’ll miss all these gorgeous sites when I’m back in America.

But I still have one more week and I’m about to be joined by one of my favorite partners in crime, Mr. Matt Jower-Ho! He arrives tomorrow and I can’t wait to show him Berlin and do all the last remaining things we can squeeze in before we both leave on Monday. The perfect end to my Berlin odyssey.

More Berlin tomorrow with MJH.