framed: werder/havel.
we left potsdam on a friday, but not to go home immediately, no, we still wanted to make the most of the day before heading home eventually. since the drive from potsdam back to my parent's place only lasts around 3 hours, we still had plenty of time to stop at some places in the state of brandenburg, namely the small city of werder by the havel river & lehnin abbey.
werder ( havel ) is known for its medieval inner city that was built upon an island right in the middle of the havel river. it's also called the blossom city because surrounding the town you can find lots & lots of fruit tree plantations who will eventually bloom in spring ( we didn't get so lucky in november ;P ).
we only spent a small amount of time here, because it was really cold & rainy that morning and it wasn't so nice to walk around like that. the few restaurants on the island were closed still, so no sitting inside either. one thing i know for sure, though: i kinda fell in love with the surroundings & nature. the environs around the city of potsdam ( & berlin ) are really worth visiting, because there are so many lakes & so many bodies of water everywhere. it doesn't feel like you are on a piece of mainland, but on several islands in the sea. of course it isn't actually the case, but to be surrounded by so much water just does this strange trick in your head. and the tiny cities & villages you find everywhere... they all have such a different history to what i am used to in the middle & west of germany. the layouts are different, the architecture, too, and there is a different vibe that i cannot quite name... it's always nice to visit new regions of germany, sometimes they feel like different countries even. in werder we decided we will probably come back to check out some of the lakes, more of the havel river & more of brandenburg, too. germany has so much more to offer than the big cities ( even though they are worthwhile, too ;) ).
sometimes i think i will never be able to see it all... but i try to see at least most of germany in my lifetime. i haven't seen much of the south, yet, but that's probably due to my mother disliking mountainous areas. i guess i will eventually tackle those regions, too, but for now, the north & east work absolutely fine for me.
after our stop in werder, we moved on to lehnin. there's an old monastery there we wanted to take a look at. but first, some pictures of werder.
the view from the new side of town onto the island. very noticeable: the church of the holy spirit & the postmill.
okay, guys. this is german. some words are too fucking long. & some words don't even make sense. kuddeldaddeldu is one of them. no, i must correct myself. kuttel daddeldu is an art figure created by joachim ringelnatz in the 1920ies. that character was a gnarly old seafarer who would attract all sorts of dirty adventures. later, in GDR times, this character was used for political cabaret ( he now had two faces, one of the cheeky seabear & the other of an adulating uncle - mainly when the political elite was around ). oh, and daddeldu is actually sailor-ish for knocking-off time & sleep. well, this particular sign lead you to a small restaurant near the shores. it was probably really cute, but... it wasn't open.
oh, here's one of the kuddeldaddeldu poems by ringelnatz ( who was a sailor himself before he sat down to write really satirical little poems. )
Vom Seemann Kuttel Daddeldu
Eine Bark lief ein in Le Haver,
Von Sidnee kommend, nachts elf Uhr drei.
Es roch nach Himbeeressig am Kai,
Und nach Hundekadaver.
Kuttel Daddeldu ging an Land.
Die Rü Albani war ihm bekannt.
Er kannte nahezu alle Hafenplätze.
Weil vor dem ersten Hause ein Mädchen stand,
Holte er sich im ersten Haus von dem Mädchen die Krätze.
Weil er das aber natürlich nicht gleich empfand,
Ging er weiter, – kreuzte topplastig auf wilder Fahrt.
Achtzehn Monate Heuer hatte er sich zusammengespart.
In Nr. 6 traktierte er Eiwie und Kätchen,
In 8 besoff ihn ein neues, straff lederbusiges Weib.
Nebenan bei Pierre sind allein sieben gediegene Mädchen,
Ohne die mit dem Zelluloid-Unterleib.
Daddeldu, the old Seelerbeu Kuttel,
Verschenkte den Albatrosknochen,
Das Haifischrückgrat, die Schals,
Den Elefanten und die Saragossabuttel.
Das hatte er eigentlich alles der Mary versprochen,
Der anderen Mary; das war seine feste Braut.
Daddeldu – Hallo! Daddeldu,
Daddeldu wurde fröhlich und laut.
Er wollte mit höchster Verzerrung seines Gesichts
Partu einen Niggersong singen
Und „Blu beus blu“.
Aber es entrang sich ihm nichts.
Daddeldu war nicht auf die Wache zu bringen.
Daddeldu Duddel Kuttelmuttel, Katteldu
Erwachte erstaunt und singend morgens um vier
Zwischen Nasenbluten und Pomm de Schwall auf der Pier.
Daddeldu bedrohte zwecks Vorschuß den Steuermann,
Schwitzte den Spiritus aus. Und wusch sich dann.
Daddeldu ging nachmittags wieder an Land,
Wo er ein Renntiergeweih, eine Schlangenhaut,
Zwei Fächerpalmen und Eskimoschuhe erstand.
Das brachte er aus Australien seiner Braut.
english translation:
on the seafarer kuttel daddeldu
a bark enters port in le havre
coming from sydney, 2.30 in the night
it smelled like raspberry vinegar by the docks
and after dog carcasses.
kuttel daddeldu went ashore.
the rue albani was known to him.
he knew almost all harbours.
because a girl stood in front of the first house
in the first house the girl gave him scabies.
but because he didn't felt it right away,
he moved on - crossed top heavy in a wild speed.
18 months of pay he had scraped together.
in no. 6 he mauled ivy & kathy
in no. 8 a new close-fitted full bosomed girl sloshed him.
next door at pierre's there are another 7 dapper girls,
exempting the one with the celluloid abdomen.
daddeldu, the old sailorboy, kuttel
gave away the albatros bone,
the shark backbone, the scarfs,
the elephants & the saragossa bottle.
all of that he had actually promised to mary,
the other mary, she was his bride.
daddeldu, hello! daddeldu,
daddeldu turned happy & loud.
he wanted to sing with highest contortion on his face
a negro song at all cost.
and 'blu beus blu',
but nothing escaped out of him.
daddeldu couldn't be brought to the sentinel
daddeldu duddel kuttelmuttel, katteldu
woke up astounded & singing at 4 in the morning
between nosebleed & pomme de flush all over the pier.
daddeldu threatened the mate for the purpose of front money,
sweat out the spirits. and washed himself.
daddeldu went ashore in the afternoon again
where he bought reindeer antlers, a snake skin,
two fan palms & inuit shoes,
and brought it all to his wife from australia.
yup, quite scurrile ( and outdated... it was a different time... )
the postmill which stood on a tiny hill on the island is actually not the original mill anymore. it burned down in the 70ies and was replaced by a mill that was found near the city of leipzig.
church of the holy spirit. it's a beautiful neo-gothic building from the 1850ies and the architect is someone i might have mentioned before: august stüler. he built the church on command of another familiar person, frederick william IV. granted, potsdam is only a few kilometers away.
at the shores of the havel river.
i felt set back to baltic sea times with those neat landing stages.
and even the gulls reminded me of the sea.
cormorants are not to be missed either.
this little willow alley was really cute. i bet it looks super nice in summer.
the market square.
all those brightly coloured houses made it look very friendly, despite the dramatic rain clouds in the sky. and the huge tree in the middle of the square was quite impressive, too.
because it got darker & darker we decided to slowly head back to our car, to forgo any chance of getting wet. the mood was really beautiful, though... dramatic skies & water paired together is unbeatable.
couldn't decide which picture was nicer ;P
even the bathroom huts were pretty ;) no, for sure. and it's proof that we haven't seen a lot of werder. the building depicted on here and the hill it is situated on is called bismarckhöhe ( bismarck hill ). it's a popular destination for everybody who wants to have a good view over werder & the havel river and snacking out along the way.
strangely enough, just as we were about to board the car, the sky opened up again. from further away we could hear someone shouting through a megaphone and shortly after that there was a carnival procession passing us by - it was november 11th, the first important day of the carnival season. we were gifted lots of candy & many 'hellaus' ( the battle cry, lol ) and then sent on our way again.
we couldn't quite part yet, shot some more pictures of the harbour & the city.
beautiful simple art nouveau town house. didn't find any information on its origins anywhere :(
the church on the left is not the church of the holy spirit. it's called 'maria meeresstern' ( maria seastar ) & is a catholic church. it was built in 1906. you can also make out another detail that is typical for the little island city: smoking chimneys! not sure if the smokeries are still in operation ( i think they are ), but apparently the island was always inhabited by fishermen who would cure their catch for distribution.
it's still very visible, the history of the fishermen. they are still around today!
we finally parted ways with werder and drove to our last destination of our vacation: lehnin abbey.
lehnin abbey's history dates back to 1180, so yeah, it is very, very old & some of the buildings were proving this. the abbey was erected by cistercian monks under the reign of otto I of brandenburg and it stayed cistercian until the protestant reformation in 1542. it was then used as a hunting lodge & summer residence by members of the hohenzollern dynasty until 1667, but then was used as a stone quarry and fell into disarray. in the 19th century the monastery was re-discovered & renovated slowly ( it was one of the first historical restorations that was close to the original structures - something that was rare back then ). in world war 2 the monastery was occupied by the nazis who used it for their purposes, such as organizing transports of kz inmates to various camps. after the war the abbey was slowly transformed into a hospital and by now, the hospital & monastery grounds are administered by the evangelical church again. there are nuns living in the old structures, living under some kind of cistercian rule, or at least that's what it felt like for me ^^;
the granary, i think, is the oldest building now on the abbey grounds, dating back to the 14th century.
you can feel the age of the granary just by looking at it. loved the simple brickstone facade & that it still felt so gothic, even now.
the abbey church with the lay brother wing on the left. it was really impressive from the outside, kept very simple & clean in the inside. cistercian rule was all about simplicity, but not in a dull way, but in a way that was still awe-inspiring. the church is not the original one from medieval times, it was re-erected between 1840 to 1862 - and very carefully at that. frederick william IV ( again! ) initiated this project and wanted it to be constructed as close to the original building as possible. his trusted architects were mr. persius & mr. stüler ( hellooooo ), and both of them were responsible for the restoration ( after the whole monastery was practically ruins from all the negligence of prior decades ).
the granary's main entry was even more beautiful. and the sun said hello again! love when she peeks out from time to time. it's as if she's telling you: look, i wanna highlight this for you, so you will remember it as more magical!
inside the church. i didn't explore it any further, because... the simplicity speaks for itself. there wasn't so much to discover... plus it was freaking cold in here.
one of the cloister wings. everything was made of brickstones, even the floor.
the king's house. it seems that this building was the actual hospital in gothic medieval times, but by 1530 it was used as a lodge for joachim I. it's beautiful gothic facade is such a dream! right next to it you can see the falconer's house, which is now a kindergarten.
ah, that house... ❤
along the old walls of the monastery you pass by some newer buildings as well, some of them are the living quarters for the nuns, but also guest rooms ( the monastery is an open institution - it's a meeting place for everyone who's interested in spirituality, various trainings or some kind of a reflectional time-out - unless you are sick and are accommodated in the nearby hospital - that's a whole different reason of staying around the grounds... )
the cloister garden of the monastery.
inside the cloister.
the back of the church is also very worth seeing, might even look a lot better than the front - in my very unnecessary opinion xD. the building on the left was the old abbot's house.
a closer look. i was really enamoured with the vaulted passage and the cute windows.
on the other side of the passage. every house that has ivy growing along its walls is a huge thumbs-up in my book.
the details of elisabeth's house - like the carved stone door frames & the blue versus banana yellow colour combination - made it really charming. this house was first erected in 1350 but constantly changed in the following centuries. inside you can find the guest reception, a dining hall / ball room, some accomodations for trainees of the nursing school and a permanent exhibit about cistercians in brandenburg.
this little cute house is called the sun palace ( sonnenschlösschen ). it's the headquarter of a youth welfare project of the monastery.
the elisabethhaus in full glory. it was a brewery in medieval times.
we entered the area of the monastery from this side, in the far back you can see the tetzeltor ( a gate dating way back to the early beginnings of the monastery ), on the left the little gate chapel and on the right we have the lovely facade of the granary again.
this annex is part of the deanery ( which was built in 1696 ). it was the appartment of the domain custodian. now it is used as the museum for local history.
abbey church & granary as seen from the grounds of the monastery garden. this was my last photo, it was time to head back to thuringia.
to sum my time up in potsdam & this little stint into the surrounding areas: completely falling in love with the region. i intend to come back in the future, for sure. i want to get to know more of the glorious ( and not so glorious ) history of the brandenburg state and explore all the lakes & cities & villages eventually. it is strange, i don't have a deep connection to this region ( except the tiny stories of my mom's adventures ), but i feel pulled to it in a curious fashion. it feels like it IS part of my history. i know, that's a pretty odd thing to say, especially when my family is not historically rooted in this region, but the allure is still big on me.
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