Sans Souci and the Palaces in Potsdam
After Dresden, it was Sans Souci for us. Who hasn't heard of Sans Souci? As a young boy eager to see the world, I had seen pictures of Sans Souci in travel brochures and I dreamed of visiting it. Fortunately, Potsdam was not so far from Berlin. In fact, we just took the local train line from our hotel and a bus once we got to Potsdam to get to the famous palace. We booked our tickets for 10:20 am. We got to Sans Souci thirty minutes early. The Palace Museum staff strictly followed the schedule and allowed visitors only on their designated time slots even though there weren't that many visitors. What I thought was going to be a two hour visit turned out to be a whole day affair. Little did I know that the ticket my partner bought was the so called combination ticket which included visits to numerous palaces and museums in Potsdam. We didn't really mind walking from one site to another, but, it was the heat that got to us the most. It was so hot and the sun's rays were painful on the skin. Anyway, every time I travel, I still prefer the heatwave over the rain. Overall, it was a wonderful day and I enjoyed myself a great deal.
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At Sans Souci, a dream fulfilled
In the morning of our trip to Potsdam, we work up early and took the train to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof from the Anhalterhof metro close to our hotel. From there we took the local train to Potsdam.
Sans Souci was the smallest palace I have ever visited. It only had 16 rooms and the visit actually lasted no more than an hour.
The breezeway in front of the San Souci Palace museum entrance
The gardens of the San Souci Palace
We were told to look at the sofas and notice now narrow the seats actually were. They weren't meant for sitting. This was also the very first room we got to visit in the Sans Souci Palace.
Inside Sans Souci, going from one stateroom to another
The shell room, one of the rooms inside the palace
Another view of the Shell Room inside Sans Souci
A view of a very grand royal bedroom
Another royal bedroom in the palace
The Sans Souci like I've previously mentioned only had 16 rooms. It was in fact the smallest palace I've ever visited in all my travels in Europe. Nevertheless, its rooms furnished really grand.
Of course, palaces from previous centuries were never complete without oil paintings, be they portraits or landscapes.
Rooms also seemed to be named after the color which predominantly covered the room.
The windmill was the very first thing I saw when we got off the bus to reach the Sans Souci Palace.
The column at the very spacious and extensive garden also called the Orangery.
A wing of the New Palace. We almost skipped the New Palace when we were in Sans Souci. First of all, it looked closed from the outside. Second, we hardly saw anyone enter the premises that afternoon when we were there. Next, the sun's oppressive rays didn't help either. It was just too hot. Luckily we persisted and got to visit it too.
This was a room in the huge kitchen of the Sans Souci Palace. The kitchen in fact was not located inside the palace but away from it. I believe it was set up this way as a precautionary measure so that the Sans Souci would always be intact and not burn in case there was a fire started in the kitchen.
Another vignette inside the Sans Souci kitchen
Here's a painting depicting a grand ball at the Sans Souci in its heydey.
This was the Picture Gallery where paintings hung from floor to ceiling and from one end of the room to the other. It was a huge room and it took a while seeing all there was to see just on just one wall. Imagine that!
Here's a partial close up of the paintings on display inside the Picture Gallery.
Inside the Picture Gallery
This room seemed like it was turned into a concert hall or a venue for conferences.
A scene in one of the rooms of the New Palace. As far as I can recall, the New Palace was huge but its rooms were not as fully furnished as those inside Sans Souci.
Inside one of the rooms of the New Palace
Taking a selfie inside the New Palace
This gazebo like structure was very close to the main entrance of the Sans Souci.