Potsdam

Potsdam, the capital of the province of  Brandenburg, Germany, is celebrating it’s 300^th  Jubilee. Since my father and his two sisters were born and raised there and his sisters lived and worked all their lives in that town, I visited there at least once a year from early childhood on. Coming from the commercial hub and harbor town, Hamburg, I always had the feeling of stepping into another age. There are no castles in Hamburg, no king or emperor ever ruled it or built beautiful edifices there and when the kingdom of Denmark reached as far as the Elbe river it had to stop just outside of town.

My aunt Tutti lived in an apartment built by the king, Frederick the Great .for his subjects.She lived on the top floor of  Breitestrasse 27 which, of course, nowadays you would call a walk up. And walk up you did. First you pulled open a huge door and then started climbing. But only about two flights. Then you were stopped by a grated door and  pulled out a huge key with which you could open that door. Then you climbed some more until you reached the top floor, got out another huge key, or maybe the same, but in any case huge, and opened her apartment door. And stepped right into her kitchen. The kitchen was light and had a door leading onto a balcony from where you could look at and over many roofs of the town of Potsdam. Down below you would see the canal  running through the center of Breitestrasse, lined with Linden trees, the barges  letting off goods and people or just passing through the Breite Brücke.

Crossing the bridge, and very close by, stood the Garnison Kirche After all, Potsdam was a military town and the military had to have their own church. But that was not enough. In the  churchtower was a Glockenspiel  which played every fifteen minutes. Twice during the hour a folktune and the other two times a hymn. In bed, at night, I was slowly lulled  to sleep, waiting for the next song.

The aparment had two rooms, the large one was Tutti’s and the other the guest room. And, yes, there was no bathroom of any kind. I suppose there was running cold water in the kitchen but certainly no toilet. In order to use the toilet you took another huge key and descended one flight down in the staircase. There you would find the communal toilet for  the tenants of that  floor.

At least once a visit we would walk to Sanssouci the residence of the king’s. Turning left on Breitestrasse one would reach the huge park of Sanssouci. Sowly we would stroll down the lane leading up to the castle until we finally reached the goldfish pond at the very foot of the terraced stairs leading to the castle. I have heard people comment with slight disdain, "After all, it is not Versaille.” As far as I am concerned, thank God it isn’t. If I want to think of something beautiful I only need to imagine  the trellis leading up to the top of the castle.