Heading down south we are on our way back to Montpellier.  Berlin was the extreme end of our Europen Tour and at some point we need to head home.  But there is still lots to see on the way so we will not be rushing.
First stop, Potsdam.  Now basically a suburb of Berlin, Potsdam has had a very interesting history.  From early on it was a favourite place of Berlin rulers, only an easy 25 km's away yet far enough to escape the daily duties that one must do, many a castle and grand grounds were built here.  Unfortunately the day that we went, the Sanssouci, the most famous of these place, was closed for a special event so Audrey and I had to settle for the Cecilienhof.  Unbeknown to me, this is the location of THE most important gathering of Global Leader directly after WWII; the one where Truman (American President), Stalin (Russian Premier) and Churchill (English Prime Minister), later replaced by Neville Chamberlain, drew up the European map after German destroyed it.  Most of those borders are still in place today although some Countries separated into 2 or more new Countries, essentially the borders agreed to over the 2 weeks have remained.  The whole of Potsdam has that 'grand' feel about it.  The Houses seem bigger here than in other places and the roads wider.  The Town center is really nice.  Because it was a Saturday when we were there, they has the Saturday markets all set up and that added to the ambiences of the Town.  I would highly recommend anyone who visits Berlin to make sure that they allow at least one day to visit this great area.
Next stop, Leipzig.  Personally it wasn't on my list but once we did some research we thought it would be a good place to stop and then check it out.  Once again, like a lot of places that we have visited, it has it's charm.  It's market place is very colourful, it's new Rathaus (Town Hall) looks like a gigantic sand castle and the city parks are huge.  Leipzig has brand new Porsche and BMW manufacturing plants so you can imagine the bling that gets around in this place.  The only problem was that the hot weather has disappeared (that actually not a problem) and been replaced by low cloud that justs wants to rain.  It made the day a bit dreary.
The next stop a small place outside of Leipzig called Namberg that has a very, very nice old Town square and a large cathedral.  We were only here for 3 hours to have lunch and see a little bit of 'less touristy' Germany.  From what I saw, it's definately not on the International Tourist trail but Germans have found this hidden gem by the drayloads.
Bayreuth was our overnight stop.  We were here not to see anything in particular, but to visit another of Audrey's long-loss friends, Carmen.  It was a really fun night with a bit of drinking, frivolity and card games.  I think that this night was just what we needed as we got to let the hair down a little and not worry about the hotel or where we were going to eat.
Following this we headed over to Bamberg to see the UNESCO listed town centre.  Bamberg was a surprise really, it's extremely tight and small alleyways, always twisting and turning so that you can't see that far ahead, lead you on a merry walk.  There is of course many Churches and large buildings, all built on the left bank up on the hills aswell as numerous smaller old mills and converted warehouses along the River Regnitz, add to it lots of colour and the result it one of 'wow'.  The Old City Hall (built 1386) is one of those picture-perfect places that we people from Australia can only marvel at, built in the middle of the river with 2 arched bridges either side, for me it's the typical image that I want to see when I'm travelling through there older European Towns.  Just Marvellous as Richie would say.
All these little stops are leading us to one of Germany's best Driving Route: The Romantic Road.  See you then.