Surprised at having slept for almost 12 hours we made the most of the breakfast provided. Back to the station to head out for the day I thought I'd find the toilet which was at the far end of the station and a level or two below. While I was following the signs and trying to read the next one in the distance someone I assumed to be a tout stepped forward trying to sell me something. It turns out it was more likely he was trying to point out I was about to walk down the up escalator, something which became all too apparent when I tried it. This mishap aside we took trains 14 and 15 to Potsdam (we changed trains mid way through the journey which we think counts as two), an area a little way out the center which has lots of parks, lots of impressive buildings and was the location where Stalin, Churchill and Atlee negotiated after WWII - effectively the seeds of the cold war which was to dominate politics for the next forty years. For us it made for a lovely location for a bike ride and after hiring some quirky machines we sent off, forgot that pedaling backwards was the brake, stopped and set off again. Mostly we were following bike lanes until we reached the first park and then we forgot about the traffic. We stopped at various buildings starting with the Chinese tea house with it's gold leaf figures and coppery roof. Essentially it seemed that lots of random buildings had been commissioned by a number of kings in the past. Next up was the new palace, being heavily restored when we were there and then the orangery. Being early in the year nowhere allowed visitors in but we were free to wonder around them and to try and imagine them at their peak, bustling with important events and people. The sun was shining which helped take the chill off the temperature which has a bit of bite in the wind. Following the route given by the bike hire shop we almost went past the next building but popped in on a whim, which was lucky as it was very impressive  and from the front we could look out over most of  the park. This was designated our lunch stop and while not quite out of the wind it was just about warm enough for lunch but not too warm to linger - perfect.

After cutting in through town for a bit we started to head uphill alone the edge of a park. We had clearly gone up too far but kept pressing as we could see a castle at the top of the hill and eventually found the path leading up to it. Locking the bikes at the bottom we strolled up, as with everything else it was closed but we walked around it and looked at the views across the water. Back at the bikes we had the downhill we had come up and swung around to the next park, which contained the very building the 'big three' had negotiated in all those years ago. Ironically close by we also biked over the bridge that used to separate east and west Germany and was traditionally used in the case of spy swaps. After a stop for a beer and an ice cream, our respective treats, we lazily biked past the bridge we needed to head back to the train station. Back tracking after a couple of hundred metres we were back on track and stopped on final time to venture up the hill to a rather lonely looking building. It stood very impressively on the top of the hill with grand turrets and high windows and while not in any danger of falling down it did seemed in need of some care and attention and possibly just some people.

Back at the rental shop the owner seemed surprised to hear we had completed the entire circuit but really that was never in much doubt. We then got train 16 back into town to look for food and hunted out a restaurant which we had a voucher for. Sadly it turns out that their name 'potatoe cellar' was strongly reflected in their menu which didn't seem as inspiring as the lively bar we had seen around the corner so we back tracked. This bar sold beer on a market system so the more people buying a drink pushed the price up. Not really up for analysing the fluctuating market I asked for a glass of whatever was cheapest at the current time. Afterwards train 17 took us just the one stop (they all count!) back to our hotel for another early night.