Potsdam Germany

Having always wanted to visit Berlin, I was very excited when I was asked to join a press trip focusing on the Castles, Parks and Gardens of Eastern Germany. We landed in Berlin, but that was as close as we got to the city, because we were staying at the Relaxa Schlosshotel Cecilienhof in Potsdam, adjoined to the Palace of Cecilienhof which was the place where Stalin, Churchill and Truman met at the Potsdam Conference in August 1945. The Potsdam Conference led mainly to the separation of Berlin and the rest of Germany between the occupying powers, and to discuss the terms of the Japanese surrender.
The Palace of Cecilienhof was owned by Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, the last Palace built by that family. Emporer Wilhelm II had built it as a wedding gift when the crown prince married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Built in the style of an English Tudor house, it caused some consternation while it was being built between the years of 1914 and 1917. The war delayed the construction but within one year of moving in Crown Prince Wilhelm had to flee into exile after the German defeat. Cecilie, meanwhile remained there until 1945 when the Red Army came marching in.
Queen Elisabeth stayed here in 2004 and in 2007 the G8 leaders summit was held here.
Potsdam was traditionally the home of the Kings of Germany, including Frederick the Great who lived in the summer Palace of Sans-Souci. The palace was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff between 1745 and 1747 to fulfill King Frederick's need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the Berlin court. The palace's name emphasises this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), which translates as "without concerns", meaning "without worries" or "carefree", symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power. The palace is little more than a large single-storey villa—more like the Château de Marly than Versailles. Containing just ten principal rooms, it was built on the brow of a terraced hill at the centre of the park. The influence of King Frederick's personal taste in the design and decoration of the palace was so great that its style is characterised as "Frederician Rococo", and his feelings for the palace were so strong that he conceived it as "a place that would die with him". Because of a disagreement about the site of the palace in the park, Knobelsdorff was fired in 1746. Jan Bouman, a Dutch architect, finished the project.
During the 19th century, the palace became a residence of Frederick William IV. He employed the architect Ludwig Persius to restore and enlarge the palace, while Ferdinand von Arnim was charged with improving the grounds and thus the view from the palace. The town of Potsdam, with its palaces, was a favourite place of residence for the German imperial family until the fall of the Hohenzollern dynasty in 1918.
After World War II, the palace became a tourist attraction in East Germany. It was fully maintained with due respect to its historical importance, and was open to the public. Following German reunification in 1990, the final wish of Frederick came to pass: his body was finally returned to his beloved palace and buried in a new tomboverlooking the gardens he had created. Sanssouci and its extensive gardens became a World Heritage Site in 1990 under the protection of UNESCO in 1995, the Foundation for Prussian Palaces and Gardens in Berlin-Brandenburg was established to care for Sanssouci and the other former imperial palaces in and around Berlin. These palaces are now visited by more than two million people a year from all over the world.