Beschäftigt Sonntag

"Busy Sunday"

I have to apologize for my English mistakes... recently.... everything is German....

If anything, today was really busy. I'm exhausted! Last night I had the strangest dreams - I dreamed one of my favorite actors was speaking German to me. Dreaming in German is very difficult. I woke up at about 7:30 and then we went to the Hauptbahnhof here in Berlin. It's the main train station and there is SO MUCH there! It took a while for us to find our way but then my host family dropped me off at the meeting place. All of the AYUSA kids were there.

We got on the train to Potsdam and then a bus which took us directly into the city. From there we went to Cecilienhof - the location of the Potsdam Conference. It was absolutely beautiful. Pictures are not allowed inside so I, unfortunately, do not have any. We saw Cecilie's rooms, which were breathtaking! They all have a nautical feel - they are called cabin rooms - because she loved the sea. We also went into Wilhelm's smoking room and library. They were both really nice. We also saw the room where the conference between the big three was! It was amazing to see a room where all those amazing people were!

We left Cecilienhof and walked to a little cafe in downtown Potsdam where we had lunch. After that we spent about an hour going around town through little shops. The Dutch Quarter is so different! It's really interesting to see how the architecture changes so much between countries! After that we walked to the amazingly beautiful Schloss Sanssouci. I hadn't known it before but it means "without worries". Ah! I did love it! It was really beautiful! We could not go inside but just seeing the gardens was breathtakingly amazing!

After Sanssouci we went to a manor house nearby. It was HUGE! It had a classic Bakery, gift shops, a big courtyard and a restaurant. It was faaaantastic!

YAY! I just found out that my suitcase will be here in 10 minutes! Ganz toll!

So! After the manor house (which we explored for an hour) we began to make our way back to the Bahnhof to go home. My stop is Alexanderplatz! From there I can go directly back or I can take a series of other trains to get home. People walk EVERYWHERE in Berlin. More so than NYC because it is a lot bigger and the streets are all curvy and confused.

German traffic is insane! I've only ever been in it once when we took a taxi on the first day but I cannot imagine driving here!

So, with German dreams, a suitcase arriving almost at midnight, and a mind full of Potsdam and castles, I bid all of Salt Lake and America Guten Nacht. Happy 4th of July.