Schloss Charlottenburg

With only two weeks left here in Berlin, Maribeth's visit gave me a chance to go out and do things in the city that I might not have done on my own. One of which was visiting the Schloss Charlottenburg, named after Sofie Charlotte, the first Electress of Brandenburg. I had previously visited the castle when I was in Berlin a year and a half ago, but I thought it would be a nice place to take Maribeth.


[The front of the Schloss Charlottenburg and fountain.]

We started out by taking an audio tour of the old part of the castle, which had been remodeled after the castle of Sofie Charlotte's time. They had done a marvelous job with the restoration, but wouldn't allow pictures inside. Maribeth and I also agreed that it was one of the best audio tours, as far as audio tours go. It was informative, yet didn't go too far into detail to bore the listener.

After we took the tour, we went outside and it began pouring down rain. Since our next plan had been to walk around the gardens, we stopped for a coffee to wait for the downpour to stop.


[Maribeth and I escape the rain by taking a coffee at the 'Kleiner Orangerie' Cafe right next to the castle. We have one classy coffee per country.]


[Kleiner Orangerie Cafe]

Once the rain stopped, we continued on to the gardens.


[In full bloom]


[In the gardens, still cloudy]


[The lake with lily pads]

We learned that first the gardens were styled in the very rigid, planned French style while it was in fashion. As the English garden became more popular, they basically let the French gardens grow over until it was more forested, in the English style. Today, there is a combination of both which makes the park and gardens beautiful, even in bad weather.