Wednesday, July 24, 2013

If we tried to show you what the Beesleys do every day you would soon tire of pictures of stacks of boxes of copies of The Book of Mormon, mattrasses ready to take to missionary apartments and lots of trips to the airport.  Just to make this more interesting we are trying to share some of the interesting sites we get to visit on our preparation day.  Germany is filled with interesting history and wonderful culture.  As we travel to and from apartments we get to see much of Northern Germany.  Every day is a great cultural experience living the sights, sounds and smells of Europe.  Just yesterday on our morning walk we stopped at the local bakery and picked up some fresh bread and pastries for our breakfast.  As the church bells tolled we walked back to our apartment under a canopy of oak trees, and climbed the stairs to our 4th floor apartment.  Not exactly like Grant, Idaho.


July 6, 2013
Visiting Potsdam
 

Potsdam is a city about 30 minutes west of where we live.  It was the residence of the Prussian Kings and German Kaisers until 1918.  Around the city are a series of interconnected lakes on the Spree River and many unique cultural landmarks.
 

This is in the Dutch Quarter with its 150+ restored homes built of red bricks in the Dutch style.  It was so fun to walk down this street and look at the shops. 



 
 
Next we walked to the Russian colony of Alexandrowka.  It was built in 1825 for a group of Russian immigrants.

 
The old town main shopping street was filled with people and wonderful sights and sounds to see.  Many street musicians - we heard some wonderful young opera singers and a variety of other street performers. 
 

 
Notice the cobble stone streets and lots and lots of bicycles.  This is the real German style.


 
This old Catholic Church boxes in one end of this street and the Brandenburg Gate boxes in the other end.


Potsdam's Brandenburg Gate built in 1770.
 
 
East of Alexandrowka colony is a large park, the New Garden (Neuer Garten) which was laid out in 1786 in the English style.  It has two palaces, the Cecilienhof and the Marble Palace (Marmorpalasis). 
 
The Cecilienhof was the location of the Potsdam Conference in 1945.  Stalin, Churchill and Truman met to decide how to administer punishment to the defeated Nazi Germany, which had surrendered nine weeks earlier. 
 
 
 
 Inside you have an audio tour explaining the Potsdam Conference.  Very interesting to learn about and see the actual table where Stalin, Churchill and Truman sat, each countries flag in front of their chair.
 
 
Roy and Marlene Gibson from South Ogden have been great friends, travel guides and office companions for the last six months.  They finish their mission and return home the first week in August.  We will really miss their friendly smiles and their vast understanding of what it takes to keep a mission functioning in an organized manner.  They are great!
 


 
 Each of the chimneys had unique detail in the brickwork.
 


 
The Marble Palace was also in this park and very beautiful.
 

 
 
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment