Days 9 and 10

Saturday, our last full day on board the Viking Fontane. We went for a tour of the Wurlitz gardens, but it was so jolly cold I didn't want to take my gloves off to take any photographs! We rested in the afternoon and in the evening attended the Captains Cocktail party and dinner, which was very festive. We shared a table at dinner with six of the friends we had made during the week. I told you it had been cold didn't I? Well, you can just make out the snow falling outside the window!

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we saw our suitcases being taken out to the coach and then followed them. We were taken to the palace of Sanssouci, built by Frederick the Great near Potsdam. 

This is Frederick the Great's tombstone in the grounds of the Palace. He finally ended up here after having been moved about a great deal and reburied in several places. Apparently, he introduced potatoes to Prussia, and had a great fondness for them, hence the offerings on the tombstone.

Alongside his grave are the graves of his dogs, all bitches, apparently the only females allowed in the palace.

After leaving Sanssouci, we drove to Potsdam and saw the building where the Potsdam Conference took place in 1945 between the victorious Allied leaders Harry S Truman, Winston Churchill, and his successor Clement Attlee, and Joseph Stalin and where the future of postwar Europe was decided.

After having lunch in Potsdam, we were driven to Berlin and apparently had a short tour around the city before going to our hotel. Unfortunately, I saw very little of the drive as I fell asleep!

We stayed in the Hilton hotel in Berlin, and were offered a walking tour of the city in the early evening. We didn't take up the offer as I climbed straight into bed because I was so cold and then fell asleep again. I think the extremely busy holiday had finally caught up with me. We had a room service supper that evening.