Windmill

There is still a fully functional windmill in Berlin, the mill of Britz. Britz, a southern district of Berlin, is known for its large park area Britzer Garten. Next to it stands the windmill. Over 100 years old...and it is still working.
There is a small bakery shop close to the mill where they sell bread baked from the selfmade flour. Nowadays it is sort of luxury to know and see how the food is made...
(google maps)

Alte Meierei

Speaking of Neuer Garten in Potsdam I forgot to mention an important building there in my post below: the Meierei. In this building used to be the diary-farm of Cecilienhof palace. Then it decayed for many years because it was located in the nomans-land between East and West and the was no public access. Ten years ago someone bought it, reconstructed it and runs it as a restaurant and a micro brewery.
It's not easy to get a seat there but it has an amazing lakeview, the fish meals are delicious and the freshly brewed beer is simply great after a hard day walking in the park :-)

Summer duck

Just a picture without any story...

Cecilienhof

Schloss Cecilienhof...this is a nice place to live. Crown prince Wilhelm and his wife Cecilie used to live here a couple of years in some of its 176 rooms.

Not only the building itself but also the gardens are exceptional nice. To me it looks a bit too artificial but nevertheless the gardener did a great job.
The surrounding park, called Neuer Garten, is a special place, too. Around the Marmorpalais (which is the "small" palace where the price an his wife had lived before building Cecilienhof) there are a couple of strange buildings. The palace kitchen is built in the look of an ancient roman temple. Or the ice cellar (the refridgerator of former times) is built as an egyptean pyramid. Very strange..but funny.
Then there is the Orangerie where the delicate plants were stored during the winter.
On one end of the building there is an interesting hint to Egypt, too. A female (I guess so:-) Sphinx overlooks the area.

Bridge of spies

Beside Checkpoint Charly on Friedrichstrasse the Glienicker Brücke was probably the most famous border checkpoint between West-Berlin and the surrounding Eastern German Republic. It got it's nickname "Bridge of Spies" from the several exchanges of spies and prisoners between the US and the Soviet Union, which took place right here in the middle of the bridge.
(Wikipedia)

Today it's simply a nice bridge, connecting the southwestern part of Berlin to the beautiful city of Potsdam.

Back again

Well, the summer break is over, I will resume posting. Let's start with a flower picture, as an apology for the long break :-)