Day 7

Today we had to be packed up and ready to leave for Potsdam by 7:30. Sasha and I both knew we wanted breakfast so we got up around 6:15.

The drive was about 2 and a half hours to Sanssouci palace. Sanssouci was created for Frederich II. Sanssouci means “without worry.” Frederich wanted a place that he could be free from everything and decided that was the best name for it. He stayed there, and then was buried there with his 11 dogs. The marbled statues that were around the palace were all in the wooden boxes to keep them safe.

Frederich had a room for his wife, however he wasn’t fond of her. She actually never stayed there. It was just him with his 11 best friends, the dogs. When he was 18 his best friend was killed by his father. His best friend was telling about how Frederich didn’t want to be a part of the crown, and wanted to live a different life. Because of his friends death, he never was truly happy. He never felt like he could love because of this. There were rumors of him being homosexual, but that was not confirmed.

We then had a boxed lunch on the bus before walking to the New Palace. Geoff found his name and we had to take a picture of him with it. It was really cold… I took a picture of how I was keeping warm by the palace. The New palace was only used by the royals about 6 weeks a year. Inside there are 646 rooms. We ended up seeing about 20. Some of the rooms we could consider being 3-4 rooms big. The grotto room is by far my favorite room. I truly have never seen anything like it. This hall was filled with sea shells, rocks and geodes.

Imagine sitting in this room during the summer! It was surreal. Ariel was my favorite Disney princess growing up, so I for sure was LOVING it.

This was the palace where the royals stayed. They came for summers and Christmas time. That was it. When it wasn’t that time, they had it open to the public like a museum. People from London came and got many ideas from this palace.

It is still being renovated, but the rooms we saw were still extremely beautiful. They were all over the top because that was how Frederich II wanted it to be.

Next it was off to our last performance in Werder. This is a small country side town. We sang in their church Kirche Phöben. The tiny church was packed! We even found out that one woman drove 3 hours to come see us. After we sang, they asked for us to sing O Tannenbaum with everyone in the audience. Dr. Davenport even played the organ while we sang it!! They then asked for an encore and we sang Alleluia again and then sang Joy To The World. It was a wonderful last performance in Germany. We had a wonderful time with each other. What an amazing experience we all were a part of. They gave us each a handmade card and Star (my favorite star) made by someone in their congregation! It was so sweet! I’m going to cherish it forever.

When we got back onto the bus, we announced our senior superlatives. If you were wondering why my last post took so long to post, it’s because the seniors were busy for 2 hours writing superlatives for the entire bus. A choir tradition that the seniors partake in for at least the last 8 years. Everyone enjoyed their superlatives 🙂 by the time we finished we were in Berlin!

It was dark out so we didn’t really see much. BUT there was a menorah lit in one of the main squares!!! Julia said there must be a market or festival there, so I’m planning on going tomorrow night.

Dinner was close to an American dinner. We are staying at a courtyard Marriott so it is quite nice and also similar to what we’re used to in America.

Tonight Sasha, Corey, Ben and I are going to explore around our hotel. Tomorrow we have our Berlin tour and a river cruise for lunch! Again another filled day ahead of us.

We can’t believe it’s almost over!!

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