Sightseeing for athletes

Birthdays are especially great when they continue on with pleasant moments even after the actual day of celebration. After the "Turkish day coupon" from Simone, my friend Anne gave me another gift certificate that we put into action only one week later: a night's stay at the Steigenberger Hotel in Potsdam including an opulent breakfast buffet. So, here we were on our way to the redemption of this gift certificate...

Potsdam is situated about 25km southwest of Berlin's city center and so well connected through public transportation that one may think it is part of the city. Apart from the fact that it is the capital of the federal state of Brandenburg most people know the town for the famous Potsdam conference of the allies in 1945 and its beautiful Sanssouci Palace - the German counterpart to the French Versailles.

The Steigenberger hotel is located at Luisenplatz right next to the entrance of the huge Sanssouci park and also only a stone throw from the old town of Potsdam where one can stroll through many nice little streets and get lost in numerous shops, cafes and restaurants.

Upon our arrival we found a delicious amenity in the room that we devoured immediately, and off we were to the Biosphere Potsdam, a zoological little park that at this time of the year exhibits a bunch of orchids, butterflies, fish and rain forest (sort of random, I found). The exhibition is a nice try to make use of the area of a former garden exhibition (BUGA), but apart from the entrance fee (9,50 Euro p.p.) it wasn't much impressive. Or maybe it was the beautiful sunshine that didn't keep us inside for long.

Instead we decided to conduct sightseeing of a different kind by exploring the Sanssouci park by jogging. This showed to be an excellent idea for the park is huge and it is almost impossible to see the rococo Sanssouci Palace, Romans Baths, Church of Peace, the Orangery Palace, Belvedere and various other sights spread throughout the park.

A nice dinner and drinks in Potsdam's old city center (all walking distance) and the opulent breakfast buffet (actually, the main reason for our hotel stay) topped our little Potsdam excursion well off and made us want to come back soon for more jogging sightseeing in the many other parks...