Sans Souci Palace by Kate-Me
This Palace was extremely decorative, rather opulent, and many sculptures, and so much gold everywhere as to be almost OVERdone.Gold was used with almost as much frequency as normal paint, lessening its dramatic effect somewhat for me by the end of the tour.
An interesting feature of the palace bedrooms that I particularly loved was that though the rooms were square, on one side there was a pretty alcove where the bed was positioned, and velvet drapes could be pulled across to cover it, still leaving a completely square room.
Schloss Sans Souci had the most interesting history (we could read the English summary while the guide spoke in German and I caught a few words here and there)
When Frederick was a boy, his father had been cruel and tyrannical and was rather keen on war, sport and hunting.
The son was more inclined towards the arts and reading, and this didn?t go down well. Frederick and his friend, a servant, actually made an attempt to run away, which failed, and the King had the friend killed in front of his son, of course causing the two to become real enemies from that day on.
When the boy became King after the death of his father, his title was Konig Frederick der grosse von Preusen - (Frederick the Great from Prussia). King Frederick spent summers at Sans Souci ( meaning ?without worries? in French) because it was a place where he could go and be carefree (normally he lived in Berlin). Frederick lived alone, enjoying the arts. He was especially fond of Voltaire, and is said to have had over 2000 books in his library, knowing exactly where each one was located.
After the tour, we had some free time to wander the gardens, which I found very attractive too, loving their symmetry.
The fountain came on about 30 seconds after I took my photo....