A European Adventure
June 10th, 2018
Charlottenburg Palace from the front.
We had a good warm week in Berlin. Wednesday brought the 6 year wedding anniversary for Chad and Doreen. For the first time since getting married we didn’t get to celebrate it under the Oak where we were married but did manage to have a wonderful night out. Emily watched Logan for a bit and we got to enjoy eating out at an adult time of the evening at a wonderful Italian place down the street.
As the rest of the week unfolded we found our routine with Chad back to work. The proximity allows us to meet for lunches and get-together during the week. Logan also completed his German soccer team card collection in preparation for the World Cup.
On Saturday Chad and Logan enjoyed another trip to the Farmer’s Market and got some different things to try including Logan’s first cannoli. When we got back we took a bike ride to Friedrichshain in search of a new outdoor furniture set. We have a wonderful balcony that isn’t getting used because we need some seating. Doreen heard about this cool warehouse in a hip Kiez that was having a sale so we got our bikes and headed East. While they had a lot of really cool stuff, their outdoor supply was already gone.
Already being out and about we decided to try one of the many beer gardens that were in the area. After trying two that were closed we finally found one (Holzmarkt) that was open and busy right on the river. We had a nice meal of fresh cheese, homemade bread and olive tapanade mixed with various meats and veggies. The location was eclectic and for some reason a large group of Korean tourists came in just to take pictures of a phone booth that had a 3min count down clock on it - not sure what that was all about, it was very strange. However, the views of the river and the various little shops were a cool break from the industrial area the facility sits in.
On Sunday we met up with our friend Emily and headed out to visit Charlottenburg Palace. The ride takes you to the other part of town so we decided to make it a nice ride and head down Friedrichstraße, through Brandenburg Gate and into Tiergarten. The weather was perfect and as we got to the other side of Tiergarten we took a path along an off shoot of the Spree that took us straight to the palace
Once we arrived on the grounds we found ourselves in the back of the famous gardens. As we rode through the garden to the main entrance to park our bikes the vastness of the property was evident and beauty of the Palace was on display at every turn.
While the palace grounds are free to the public, there are various different reasonable ticket prices to see what’s inside and take the tour - we paid 10 euros each and Logan was free.
The Palace was built in the later part of the 17th century by Friedrich III and commissioned on July 11th 1699 - Friedrich’s 42nd Birthday. His wife, Sophie Charlotte, originally commissioned the building. Sophia was sister to George Louis who succeeded the British throne as King George I. This was important at the time because Prussia was just beginning as it’s own country and having such a prominent blood line would secure Friedrich’s power.
In 1701 Friedrich crowned himself Friedrich I in Prussia laying the ground work for his grandson, Friedrich II (Friedrich the Great) to be crowned the King of Prussia in 1740. There is a lot of complicated history that explains the use of ‘in’ substituting for ‘of’ but basically it all roots back to Prussia being under Polish rule until 1618 and then a sovereign Duchy under the Electors of Brandenburg, a subject of the Holy Roman Empire from 1701-1772.
In 1701, as Prussia was seeing some of it’s new independence come to fold, Friedrich I sent Johann Friedrich von Eosander to study architecture in Italy and France as the official Prussian architect. Sophia Charlotte, the name sake for the Palace, was very fond of all things art, culture, and philosophy of the time. As a gift to his first wife, Friedrich I asked von Eosander to pay special attention to the Palace of Versailles during his education while traveling. Upon his return 1702, von Eosander brought with him plans to expand the Palace later giving it the nickname ‘sister to the Palace of Versailles.’ Unfortunately, Charlotte would not live to see the renovations completed and died in 1705. Friedrich named the Palace ‘Charlottenburg Palace’ in her honour and took special care to make sure that his wife’s vision was seen to completion down to every last detail. This included building her porcelain collection into the walls and commissioning countless Flemish artisans to create detailed works of painting and tapestries.
Friedrich I died in 1713 and his son, Friedrich William I, maintained Charlottenburg but did little to add to the grounds. His son Friedrich the Great (Friedrich II) made many improvements and additions and lived partly on the grounds - his wife preferred Schönhausen Palace. Friedrich Wilhelm II and Friedrich Wilhelm III made many additional changes and lived on the grounds during their reigns. The last resident of the Palace was Friedrich III who died in 1888.
We meandered through the tour listening to all the details and trying to put ourselves into the shoes of the kings and queens that adorned these halls. It was interesting to imagine what life would have been like for these people. According to the tour, Sophia Charlotte was fond of having dinner parties, theatre in the garden, and always welcoming interesting people from all over the world. Maybe the most surprising part was how much Asian influence there was on many of the porcelain vases and harpsichords that were scattered throughout the Palace.
With our tour complete we ventured into Charlottenburg for lunch where we had a nice proper German meal and got to taste the local beers on tap.
With lunch behind us we gathered our bikes and ventured into the gardens before heading home. On the back of the Palace grounds is a Spielplatz with some cool equipment that Logan got to try. We spent some time here enjoying the garden and the wonderful Sunday.
As the afternoon rolled on it became clear that the rain was coming so we rushed to our bikes to beat the rain but failed. We ended up in the middle of a downpour. We were all soaked from head to toe but managed to make it home, dry off and relax before starting another week. With another great week behind us we look forward to what this next week will bring.
Until Next Time,
The McNeills