Cuckooco for Rococo

My parents and brother are in town now, staying with me.  I’m thinking about just making it official and applying for a bed-and-breakfast license. 

On Sunday, I slyly threw out the question: “So, what in Berlin would you guys like to see?”  Cleverly expecting the answer: “Gosh, I don’t know!  Why don’t you just lead us to the conveniently nearby sights that you’ve already decided to take us to, you lazy lazy host?”

Instead I got: “Actually, I’d like to see the Sans Souci palace of Frederick the Great.”

Damn history-reading brother.

Sans Souci was Frederick the Great’s summer palace (we made the lame joke that his winter palace was called “Avec Souci” at least three times that day).  Frederick the Great was a 18th Century Prussian king who is “great” for presumably many reasons, though I suspect mostly because he introduced potatoes to Germany, and Germany to potatoes.  People apparently still visit his grave and place fresh potatoes on it.

Don’t laugh.  You can’t eat sausages with rice.

Anyways, Sans Souci has the disadvantages of being distant and popular, which means you need to trek out to it and get an appointment for a tour (in our case, for nearly three hours after we arrived).

But we did get to see it.  There’s a lot to like, especially if you like your palaces swirly.  But for me, the best part was the footwear.  As you go in, everyone is issued a pair of these size 20 slippers.  You can slip your shoes right inside. 

The stated reason is to help protect the floor.  But in size 20 slippers, you can’t walk.  All you can do is skate around.

A pack of tourists with their fanny packs and cameras and complaints and “I’m With Knut” baseball caps, all skating around like members of some discount ice capades troupe.  Set to the sounds of Frederick the Great’s Greatest Hits.

Please.  The slippers aren’t to help protect the floor.

Man, I had such a good time skating around the palace that it was all I could talk about today at work.  Finally somebody asked me what else I liked about the palace.

I thought really hard and gave my best ponder face.  “Um… did I mention that the slippers were gray?”