Blogs from Dresden, Saxony, Germany, Europe - page 16

I headed back to the Residence Palace to begin my walk around the city to see the more historical sites. From there, I proceeded to Brühl Terrace, which lies between several fantastic architectural photo-ops and the Elbe River. Bruhl Terrace was the main promenade of those who had the desire to be seen during the 1800's. It was also the location of another one of the King's mistress' palace. One of the most interesting buildings is the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden, referred to those of us not German as the Art Academy. What captured my attention was the inscription over the windows of the names of the great Masters - in gold leaf. A short stroll from there is a little park, where I saw a group of school children evidently on a field trip. ... read more

I am up at 5:30, shower and pack, and am downstairs at 6:15 to await my taxi. The owner was in the breakfast room, and while she didn't quite have everything ready, insisted that I at least have some coffee and a pastry while I wait on the taxi. I sat next to the window as I ate, so that I could see my taxi when it arrived. The frau kept telling me to relax, the driver would ring. Sure enough, he did - no idling the car out front and blowing the horn here. I arrive at the bahnhof, pay the driver and dash into the news stand. In all of my walking the day before, I didn't buy a magnet or any small souveniers. So, I made a few quick purchases in the news ... read more

The striking thing about the exterior of the Palace - and typical of most of the restored buildings I see - is that in restoring, they left the soot on the stones from the massive fires after the firebombing of Dresden 60 years ago. Dresden was pretty much wiped out - the temperatures were so hot, that many of the huge sandstones that were used in construction, such as in the Frauenkirche, collapsed due to all moisture evaporating and reducing the stone to sand. The Royal Palace, the Zwinger Museum and the Semper Opera House, all located across from each other and across the street from my hotel, bear this mark of their tormented past. My research provided that this was intentional -scars as a reminder of this town's history to those who may one day ... read more

Geo: 51.0696, 13.5834Just a quick note about the German city of Dresden. After leaving Berlin, we set off early morning towards the Czech Republic, with a 3 hour stopover in the German city of Dresden. This city was really beautiful, much different to that of Berlin. This city was very old fashioned, with cobble stone roads, and heavy brick stone buildings. also had a fantastic huge cathedral. its amazing how some of these buildings were constructed.One of the chapels here actually holds the preserved heart of the great "Augustus the Strong," long departed hero of this city. There was also this cool funky penguin related soft serve icecream which was cool. Tragically, after leaving this city, things took a turn for the worse.... the bus blew its "turbo pipe" thing.. leaving us stranded at a German ... read more

朝早食完早餐,就離開柏林,去德國另一個城市德雷斯頓啦。德雷斯頓好古色古香,同柏林好唔同,但親切o既感覺冇變。o係呢度o既行程好free,有個多鐘o既自由時間。呢幾日咁o岩有一d 類似funfair o既野,特別熱鬧。 食完lunch,就要搭6個鐘頭車去布拉格啦。係好攰,但唔辛苦。因為車外o既風光總係吸引人o既。去到都晚飯時間lu,下一日先開始布拉格o既行程。去到布拉格,我再感受唔到o係德國o既親切感,大概係因為呢度充斥住陌生又唔靚o既捷克文。... read more