7 June 2009 We left the Elbe and headed east through rolling countryside along roads in great need of repair to the Czech / Polish border. Our first stop was Zittau, a town which is being much improved by money from the west. It is home to two large Lenten Veils, which were used to screen the alter during Lent. The veils are made of linen and are painted with biblical scenes. The larger which is more than 8m x 6m illustrates stories from the old and new testaments and was made in 1472. Its survival is a miracle. The smaller [View Full Entry]

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6 June 2009 One of the places I particularly wanted to visit on this trip was Dresden. We went there today and it exceeded my expectations. The reconstruction of the fabulous baroque buildings that were severely damaged or almost destroyed by Allied bombing on 13 February 1945 is truly astounding. We took the pretty train ride along the Elbe from Konigstein to Dresden. The morning was spent being amazed by the variety and splendour of the Altstadt buildings. It started to rain soon after lunch but it didn’t bother us as we had booked to see the Historical and New green [View Full Entry]

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5 June 2009 Our first port of call today was to the attractive village of Rathern built on both sides of the river below Bastei. A fortress which was started in the 13 hundreds and expanded in the centuries thereafter is situated on the plateau of one of the Saxony Switzerland table top mountains just outside the small town of Konigstein. it is called Festung Konigstein. This was our next stop and a very interesting visit it turned out to be. Because of its impregnable position surrounded by high cliffs on all sides it was never attacked and there are a [View Full Entry]

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4 June 2009 A very busy but excellent day on another major river, the Elbe, despite the weather which has turned very cold for June. We went into Meissen and had a look at the local castle and Dom. They have a spectacular position on top of a hill by the river. The Dom was beautiful but the castle disappointing. This was followed by a visit to the porcelain factory and museum which we really enjoyed. In addition to the many amazing pieces to view, there was a very informative tour through four small studios where craftsmen and women demonstrated the [View Full Entry]

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3 June 2009 The whole of our trip so far has been in the former West Germany, but today we drove about 300k north eastwards to Meissen, famous for its china, and we are now well in to the former East Germany where we will stay for most of the remainder of the trip. On the way we made a brief visit to Colditz Castle the former WW2 high security prisoner of war camp. They had a small museum about the prisoners and their attempts to escape which was very interesting. We arrived at the camper stop at the same time [View Full Entry]

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2 June 2009 In sunny weather we had a lovely cycle ride along the Regnitz River into Bamberg and the town turned out to be a gem. It survived the war with very little damage and therefore the historic buildings located on five hills are original. After a superb walking tour suggested by the tourist office we had a delicious lunch of local food and drink, did a bit more wandering, updated the blog and then returned happily to the van after an excellent day. When we got back we watched Andy Murray get knocked out of the French Open. [View Full Entry]

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1 June 2009 Between 1933 and 1939 the Nazis built a huge complex on the outskirts of Nuremburg to hold their annual rallies. Its called the Reichsparteitagselande and was only partly completed when the building works were suspended at the beginning of the war. It’s the location of the famous films of Hitler addressing thousands of his supporters. We went there today and saw the half finished Kongresshalle based on Rome’s Colosseum, the Grosse Strassa 60m wide by 2km long and the Zeppelinfeld with its 350m long grandstand from where Hitler made his speeches to the masses. We [View Full Entry]

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31 May 2009 A day looking around the ancient city centre of Nuremburg. Much of the centre was destroyed or badly damaged during Allied bombing raids in early 1945 including its 3 major churches and castle. However most has been faithfully restored or replaced with sympathetic buildings and there are many beautiful parts. The River Pegnitz runs through the centre and we started the day by crossing it, looking at Lorenkirk and the city wall. Then a return to the market square at noon to see with many other people on the face of the Frauenkirche seven Princes parading around Emperor [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 30 May It was market day in Eichatt so we cycled into town, had another breakfast and blog update at our favourite café, did some shopping and then went back to the van. Then it was a fairly short drive up the autobahn to our next city to visit, Nuremburg, where we stayed on a fairly crowded small camper stop next to a large park. Several of the people staying there appeared to be German immigrants and during our two night visit we came to the conclusion that they were using the site as a semi permanent home although the [View Full Entry]

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29 May 2009 We went into Eichstatt first thing and had a pleasant breakfast in the internet café while I updated the blog. Then a quick walk round the town and a visit to the Nature Park office to get details of the cycle route along the river. It turned out that we could get the train up the river and cycle back, but a bit of timetable misreading by me in the rush to get going meant we didn’t get quite as far as planned and had to cycle part of the route both ways. However we had an excellent [View Full Entry]

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