An Invitation to the Palace

Who do you expect to find wandering in a castle?  Perhaps Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.  Or maybe even Elsa and Ariel.  But put those visions aside because today, our cast of American students were the fairytale characters that roamed the royal halls of a palace - Schloss Charlottenburg! 

With headphones on their ears for this self-guided tour, students craned their necks upwards to observe each cherub etched into the ceiling. Everyone's phone was poised for the picture-perfect backdrops.

Take Henry, for example.  Absorbing the intricacy of each wall and portrait, he told me, "This is not something that I can see at home in Vermont. What a special opportunity to step back in time!" 

And step back in time we did!  Back to the time of the early 1700s, when the wife of Friedrich III (Sophie Charlotte) commissioned this palace to be built.  (Our Program Leader Theresia pointed out with a gasp, "She married a guy who crowned himself...and then was only queen for four years until she died?") Yet the spirit of Sophie Charlotte lives on - and not just in the name Charlottenburg itself.  One student told me that usually she would never see herself living in a huge space like this.  But she explained that because Sophie Charlotte put her "personality" into the castle, she wouldn't feel lonely and the space wouldn't feel empty.

Other students were similarly struck by its style.  While Emilio didn't want to live in the castle itself, he did suggest that it become an Airbnb location.  Meanwhile, KC said he felt it was like the castle in "Alice and Wonderland" and Indigo was enthralled by the size of the bathtub.  "Did you see the bathtub?" she asked.  "It's a dream.  I feel like I could swim in there!"  And Andre loved the room filled with porcelain, describing that it became so "3-D."

During our group debrief afterwards, not only was I surprised that almost everyone student said they would want to live here, but I was also impressed by just how many details the students observed.  Lauren had told me how she noticed that the space is very "vanity-heavy," and each coat of paint is even.  She thinks the pink paint is pretty and it complements the room, especially looking out to the garden.  She imitated the audio guide: "Look to your right and there is an embroidered gold painting..."  She even noticed what she explained as a "goddess pouring rose petals from above" in one of the rooms.  If that were her bedroom, she said she'd feel "serene."

In addition to its exquisite decor, the palace had a built-in chapel.  Keira said her friends had to drag her out of there.  That's how much she was in awe of the star-studded ceiling and the airy sound of the organ playing.

Are we sure there weren't cameras filming us to be featured in Disney's latest film?  I guess we'll never know.  But after a final trip to the gift shop, we left Schloss Charlottenburg.  And our joy of discovery there?  Unlike Elsa, we'll never "let it go..."