The words that went with the pictures from Potsdam.

 Last post was mostly just pictures of Potsdam, Germany.

This place was…. Incredible. I’m pretty sure there are no words in the English language that can mean what I want them to mean about that place.

I was getting really sick of Berlin. It smells bad, it’s huge, it’s cramped, It’s dirty, the pace is fast, and there were a lot of things that I didn’t really care to see. When you hear people talking about the world becoming more wicked, I'm pretty sure they were talking about this city. when I got the chance to leave the city for the day I jumped at the opportunity. You see, 12 days in Berlin was 8 days too long. I could have spent at least 3 more in Potsdam and would have thought I was in heaven.

In fact, I’m pretty sure heaven will resemble this place. There were so many gardens, so much manicured landscape, so many water fountains, so many gorgeous palaces, windmills, statues, rococo style art and décor, so much to see. So much history. So much to love. So NOT enough time to see it all.

I literally thought that, once again, I was in a movie. Or book.  Jane Austen must have written her stories with this type of place in mind. I swore Mr Darcy was going to come down the street in a carriage and I was going to witness a famous, classic romance first hand. 

We left Berlin with the knowledge that that it would probably rain in Potsdam that day, and yet we went anyways, hopeful that we would still manage to take some good pictures. And it was perfect. The light was even. In other words, perfect for taking pictures for. It rained lightly every once in a while throughout the day and it was magical. It added a ton to the experience as whole.

You know how sometimes you’re living life and you think, “it can’t get better than this!” and then somehow, it does? This was one of those times. Here I was in the most beautiful place I’ve ever been, with 3 really fun girls, seeing a place that in my mind looks exactly how I had imagined Europe looking, thinking “it can’t get better than this right now” and then it started to rain. And I swear, this rain let every plant and flower release a delicious smelling perfume into the air and then I really thought it could never get better. And then it did again. All the different palaces and orangeries closed and most of the people and tourists left and then we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves to wander and do as we please. And we took our time and I enjoyed the peace and quiet, listening to birds chirp, running water, the rain, and my feet meandering down a path in between 2 rows of large tall trees that covered the path from the rain and at that point, the only thing that could have made that moment better, would have been if I was there holding hands with a man I was in love with. This isn’t just because I’m a romantic either. This place shouted romance in every direction and decided at this point that-

A-    one day I’ll come back here when I’m married and then it really would not be able to get any better.

B-    This is my most favorite place I’ve ever gone to in my life.

C-     this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

D-   & I wondered why on earth anyone would choose to live in Berlin, when Potsdam is only 45 minutes away.

We decided we’d leave. :'( When we got to the bus stop to take us to the train station, it started to rain harder. And by the time we got to the train station, it was pouring. It’s as if it held out for us so we could enjoy that day. Like Heavenly father I needed that quiet time to think and just feel.

This trip has been filled with many experiences, little miracles, and tender mercies that I cannot attribute to anyone but my loving Heavenly Father.

Some of the girls here and I sometimes joke when things work out when they should not have, “It’s cause we went to church this week.” But, really, I know that my Father in Heaven loves me and is watching out for me.

Yesterday I too got to leave Berlin for the day. This time we went to the Venice of Germany: Spreewald. And got to ride in a gondola thing throughout the canals of this darling traditional German town. Spreewald was a part of East Germany during the cold war, it is pickle capital of Germany {or the world… :P}, and their post office is even located on the canal and you have to have a boat to get to it. Everything was so green. SOOO green. There where lots of cute ducks, dragon flies, baby sheep, baby goats, pickles, pickle stuffed animals, pickle key chains, the house {or castle} that a guy who tried to kill Hitler {from the movie valkyre} lived in, and houses and buildings that resembled those in Levinworth, Washington. Going there made me feel better about not being able to go to Venice, Italy. Even though I’m sure they’re very different.

I got to try Snitzel and Spargel with delicious hollandaise sauce yesterday too. Snitzel is breaded and fried veal, and spargel is German white asparagus. It was delicious! Probably the best food I’ve had here so far.

When we got back to Berlin we got another doner. From the best doner kebap shop in Berlin. I can never eat another doner anywere else. They grilled all the veggies and put this special sauce and seasoning on their kebap meat. And toasted this pita type bread and then added zucchini and lettuce and tomatoes and topped it with feta cheese. Mmmm. Delicious. And not terribly expensive either.

QUINTON JAMES- I found out for you how much a whopper costs cause you asked me to. 8.99 euro. Which thanks to my handy dandy conversion ap on my iPod = 11.28 American dollars. I believe that was for the meal. I don’t know, I didn’t buy it. You could get a much better German meal for that much money.

Also, in case anyone wanted to know or was wondering, they sell pregnancy tests and other such things in vending machines here. And they are called the “mayby baby”. Fitting, right? That was an interesting discovery. One that I had to photograph.

And that ends my time in Berlin.

But first, {because the first part of this post was serious and not particularly funny}

I have a funny story for you to imagine. {this will work best if you close your eyes and imagine this as someone else reads it to you. Just an idea….}

This morning we leave the hostel in Berlin, happy as can be to leave this place, hoping like no other that Munich doesn’t smell as bad and that people don’t pee on the side of the road as often as they do here. I have my 26-30 pound back pack on that is the size of Texas, my cute little summer yellow purse, and my camera bag,  attached is a bag of food for the train, and a water bottle. This equals my life’s needs for 2 months. But, then imagine 12 of us with this amount of stuff. Only some of us didn’t pack as “light” as I did. So we make our way to “Hallesches tor" train stop just fine, and even make it on to our first train with no problem. This, my friends, is where the good luck ends.

The next stop, “friedrick strase”, we were at was a lot busier. And the train shows up at the platform already full. And we have to cram 12 people {that take up the space of fifty} into space that would comfortably fit maybe 5. Crazy. I thought for sure we’d just wait for the next one, and then Carsten begins to conquer that train and I run to 3 different train cars to see if I could fit on any. Well, I end up back at the one that everyone is trying to also get on and the doors begin to shut. At this point everyone was crunched in except me and Stacey. She was getting on and Carsten is body slamming the doors to stay open so I can get on even though it doesn’t look like even a mouse would fit. So he’s literally pulling me on while pushing the back of my backpack on the train while my face is literally being squished into the poor people already on the train. The doors keep trying to close and they can close because my dumb backpack is in the way. So the doors are slamming over and over again on my backpack and then I finally make it on the train and I have no where to stand up straight so I’m 100 percent laying on the doors. Luckily we only had 1 stop to get to the hauptbahnhof, or main train station. When the doors to the train opened, because I was laying on them, I literally fell out of the train on to the platform and by some miracle, I caught myself and am unscathed.

And because it was a miracle we ALL made it on to that train, nearly in unison we say “it’s because we went to church on Sunday.” I’m telling you, there are some serious miracles happening.

And then it was relatively smooth sailing to get to the ICE {or up to 250 mile an hour train} headed to Munich. Which is where I am now.

And to answer your question, yes it does smell better here. And we get free dinner at our hostel and it was divine after a more than 5 hour train ride here. 

I received a few fantastic emails from Ashleigh the past few days. Of Gemma bear smiling and laughing. It’s so cute! She’s still a doll. Ashleigh said she’s finally starting to fit into the newborn size clothes but now they’re too short for her even though the waist is the right size. I sense she’s going to get her daddy’s height. I’m excited I get to be a part of her life and watch her grow up. Even though I am not there to be an aunt right now, it’s the best!

I’m excited to see Miss Caitlin too. She told me on Skype she wants to go to yogurt land when I get back. :D I told her I'd love to take her. Seriously, once again, being an aunt is my favorite.

In case any of you were wondering, a few things that usually happen every summer are happening very fast. Namely my annual summer freckles over my nose and under my eyes are popping up like they haven't done in a few years and my hair is getting bleached by the sun and is going golden this year instead of red. This is good news. I miss the days of my childhood when i was a freckle faced blonde. 

And now that I wrote another novel, I’m going to be done with this post.

Congrats to everyone who finished reading it. You’re truly champions.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

no pictures from spreewald. the internet is even slower here than in berlin. sorry...