Charlottenburg Palace

Crossing the street from the Scharf-Gerstenberg Museum the surreality continued for John and I as we approached the Schloss Charlottenburg, a grand palatial country house built in 1695 for Queen Sophie Charlotte but now surrounded by unrelentingly suburban architecture.

It became the summer residence of the Prussian kings and was added to until the 19th century. The palace and the Baroque gardens have been restored after severe damage in the 2nd World War. The gardens now provide an escape from the busy city for Berliners.

At the rear of the Schloss we find the formal parterre gardens with a central fountain.

I strolled back to the lake at the end of the parterres with its view onto wooded areas and a footbridge in the distance

while John wrote some postcards in the shade of the palace.

Too exhausted from our tour of the Surreal Museum to attempt a visit to the palace today we slipped out past statuary and cyclists to catch a bus back to the centre of town.