Bachslunch, To me the most interesting site in Potsdam was Cecilienhof, home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, where the famous Potsdam conference was held in the summer of 1945. At that conflab Roosevelt (ailing), Churchill, and Stalin decided the fate of post WW II Europe. The estate, built during WW I, is in the English Tudor style in deference to the Crown Prince’s wife. The Allies chose the site because it was one of the few not heavily damaged by aerial bombing at the end of the conflict. I read once that the Allies purposely avoided bombing Potsdam because of it historical significance and because they knew they would need an appropriate pad on which to meet after the German surrender. The tour of Cecilienhof was well done.

Remember that Potsdam and environs were in the Soviet sector of greater Berlin and left in great neglect until after the Wall fell in 1989. Many of the beautiful villas around San Souci are in the process of being restored.

Oh, man, I am going next month, but the Neues museum won't reopen until Oct. (sad!)

Neither Roosevelt nor Churchill attended the Potsdam Conference. Roosevelt died April 12, 1945 -- Truman became president and attended the conference that summer (the war in Europe ended May 8, 1945).

Churchill had been succeeded by Clement Attlee as prime minister of Great Britain and so could not have attended.

USNR, thank you for the correction. Roosevelt had just died so Truman represented the US. Churchill attended at first but then lost the general election so Attlee took his place. Gracias.... I must have been thinking of Yalta!

In any case, Cecilienfhof is worth the visit.

I will be returning to Berlin in April 2010, so I am sooooo excited about the reopening of the Neues Museum a few weeks ago! We have scheduled 7 nights in Berlin, but I'm thinking of adding a few more. We LOVE museums, and Berlin is packed.

tower - thanks for the tip about Wannsee. I'll be checking that out next!