Big Garden

It didn’t take me long to purchase a Sans Souci garden pass, which let me into any building in the garden (Sans Souci palace not included) for 9 euros, nor did much time pass before I was inside. The interior of the house, however, wasn’t really as impressive as the exterior, and it wasn’t a very large building. Almost as quickly as I’d arrived, I was compelled to leave again in search of the two grand structures I’d seen before (and now had purchased entrance into. There was a catch though – the road I’d been on, parallel to my original for a very long time, seemed to wind independently past the building I’d found.

What ensued involved an hour and a half of wandering the entangled paths of this palace garden. By the end I was hot, wet, and wondered if the pass I had bought to enter all the buildings also entailed permission to use bedrooms within. Finally, however, I stumbled onto a crossroads meeting with the very first path I’d taken, the one leading to the right of the San Souci palace. I was significantly further along the path than I had been before. From the end of the path, the giant green-domed structure struck me as mysterious. Still, it seemed at least a small walk away from me.

I stood there on the garden path debating the merits of heading towards the green dome. Not once, but twice I began walking back toward the San Souci palace, only to have this nagging voice in my head insist that the small walk would be worth the mystery that was the green dome. More importantly, I knew that if I didn’t have the heart to walk there when it was this close to me, I would never have the heart to come back once I had put distance between us. Thus despite my lesser judgement, I turned on my heels and began toward the dome.

I must have walked a strong and steady pace for a good ten minutes before it occurred to me that for a short walk, the building seemed no closer than it had when I began my trek. Recall I mentioned how thin these paths were, and walled on either side with tall shrubbery? This had played with my perceptions far more than I had realized. Once I truly looked, it was clear that I had absolutely no conception of how close or far I was from the elusive green dome. It could have as easily been another hour away as it could another five minutes of walking.

Crestfallen and weary; tired and frustrated, I headed back to distant fountains, obelisks, and rape gardens. Had I not been in this state, I might not have been so shocked when the path abruptly opened up to my left, revealing – you guessed it – a grand palace-like structure. Honestly, I felt embarrassed that I hadn’t detected a pattern yet. It’s just so difficult to think of someone building structures of grandeur the likes of Maryland has never seen on a massive scale, let alone in some pattern.

In my defense though, this castle was the most impressive and grandiose I’d seen yet, including the San Souci palace itself. Picture it if you can: the property began with a fountain just off the path, followed by a huge yard of green ending just past the life-sized statue of a naked dude aiming his already-knocked bow (more than likely a character out of some mythology).

Then two sets of stairs either side of this steep hill leading to a small sheld with a grove of thick vines growing between poles forming a huge crescent, with a pool of water the centerpiece. Feeding water into the fountain were 5 handsome metal lions heads. Further up there were more stairs, then another shelf, more stairs, then suddenly palm trees everywhere! Elsewhere on that level were an assortment of huge pools in odd formations, all leading up to a statue of some lord welcoming you into the courtyard. Just beyond the courtyard was the magnificent structure that initially had attracted my attention. The place must have been as expansive as it was expensive. Thus, no matter how hard I may have tried to do otherwise, my tired bones would not let me hesitate on the matter of investigating this place.