Intentional traveler: Setting Sail At Last

We were on our way early Monday morning after checking out of the Berlin Hilton. Elva and I are still in Bus group A and will continue that way until we leave Prague at the end of the week. Not so lucky is that our group always leaves for the day 15 minutes before the other. It is good that they stagger the group but I am sleepy today.

Since our river cruise is on the Elba and it does not flow in Berlin we are driving out to meet it in Wittenberg. Our first stop was in Potsdam which is really just a suburb of Berlin. The wealthy area has beautiful homes which were mostly undamaged during the war. All of Berlin is pretty much a reduplication of pre-war planning and design. It was rebuilt to replicate the original city, but Potsdam is an original city filled with large, spacious homes of brick and balconies.

At the edge of Potsdam we crossed The Bridge of Spies. Here Gary Powers was exchanged for a Russian spy. It became the exchange point routinely used. It gets a little confusing as you drive in and out of east and West Germany and I am never sure which I am in.

A view of the nearby 'lake house' of one of the Nazi friends of Hitler.

We continued on stopping at the Sansoucci Palace to see the outside and view the extensive gardens. We walked to the guest house which was built to give the tiny 12 room main house a better view than that of a swamp. Known as the New Palace there were four guest suites, 1st and 2nd floor, on either side of the central ballroom and dining room overlooking the most beautiful English Gardens. Each suite took a full floor and had its own living room, dining room, card room, music room and his and her bedrooms. If you were a guest you were able to invite others to be your guest as well since there was a guest room within the guest suite. Each also had indoor plumbing with toilet and ornate tiled bathtub. Food was cooked between the main house and guest house and brought to basement chef's pantries to be finished and prepared to serve.

Frederich the Great had it all built after the Seven Years War and the showpiece was completed in six years.

Here is a link to view the interiors of at least the Grotto Hall and the Marble Hall. The King wanted the seashell room on the first floor with open access to the gardens for this summer home so insisted the 80 ton Marble Hall be built above it. Maybe not a good idea! The halls recently reopened after the floor/ceiling need extensive repairs!

The Grotto Hall is marble and sea shells! Stunning. I could not take pictures of the Grotto Hall of the New Palace but you can find some here.

We had a lunch stop in a lovely little town steeped with noble history. Elva and I avoided crowded restaurants and enjoyed the sunshine with our picnic. We then continued on to Worlitz to a pretty little but very modern old home filled with history of an interesting family. The wife even had her teeth filed to narrow points, as was the fashion, to please her husband. But Louisa had only one son and was soon relegated to her own home on the property in an old convent where she happily enjoyed her own pursuits. The husband soon moved to another, larger home across the lake where he had a succession of mistresses and children, all of whom were daughters. All seven mistresses were also named Louisa!

The house we visited was the marital home built when he was so in love with his bride to be. And they did live there happily for a little time. But this Frederich loved technology and clever construction better than any person. The house was always open to visitors who were also interested in construction innovation. Doors folded flatly into the walls because recessed depth was added into the frames to accommodation the door knobs.

All the wallpaper, art, and furniture are original to 1773!

The white spaces are raised decoration the green is Trompe L'oeil.

Wine fridge.

Cove ceiling.

There was a collection of beautiful sculpture like the bust in the library of a famous author.....

and he saved his favorite pieces for his bedroom!

Several rooms had an early version of a Murphy Bed built in. Some folded down and some accordioned from the walls. There was a refrigerator that looked like a simple cabinet. It was in the dining room for the wine. In his bedroom he worked Hugh Hefner style - from his bed. But since he was German it was a bit more structured. One end had a built in desk and the other the wardrobe. A trundle pulled out to welcome friends.

On the way out past the espaliered fruit trees and lovely lake and vineyard I had Elva pause by the bus showing our next Viking cruise which will be on the Viking Sky ocean liner. Our bus that we always used pictured the Longship.

At long last we reached Wittenberg and caught our first sight of our home for the next week - the Viking Beyla. In typical Viking fashion we were greeted by the Hotel Manager, Chef, Maitre'd, and even the Captain.

Also, as typical for me, we do not have the most spacious cabin but I was very happy to have a large window on this newly built, two year old ship.

Some of the people of Wittenberg had taken comfortable seats at the riverside to see the parade of passengers joining this week's cruise.

We found what will be our favorite spot this week - the Aqua Vite Terrace. When we were lucky we claimed the comfortable rocking chairs and snuggled under warm wool blankets while sailing.

Sebastion, whom we had already spent time with in Berlin, remains as our Program Director but now wears his officer's stripes while on board.

The Captain and all the officers were introduced and we could already see the cheerful comradery that they had which would prove to be so much fun as the trip progressed.

The Captain made a short welcome speech and toasted a happy journey. He turned out to be so jovial and was everywhere around the ship when not in in the wheelhouse.