PapaMarshall

Day 7 – 5/27/2022 – Meissen

Today is a gray day on the river. Temp 59, light drizzle. All but the most hardy of the “fishermen” have disappeared.

Having left Torgau at 3:00 AM we spent the morning on the river heading for Meissen. Apparently the Elbe isn’t the type of river that one wants to navigate at night. We learned yesterday that our ship has a flat bottom, and jet propulsion rather than propellers – both designed for a river with a depth that can sometimes be measured in inches. Not the kind of place that you would choose to deal with in the dark.

So our morning was quite relaxed. We had a leisurely breakfast and adjourned to the lounge to chat with fellow passengers and upload a few pictures while waiting for Cruise Director Jamie’s lecture on ‘Germany Today’. He covered the developments that have shaped the current situation in Germany from the aftermath of WWII to the present. A high-level overview but he did a credible job of hitting the high points and making sense of what we are seeing.

Shortly after lunch we docked in Meissen and were soon on our way to the Meissen porcelain plant for a tour.

Meissen porcelain is made of Kaolin (a silica clay) combined with a bit of Feldspar and Quartz.

We learned a bit of history about the company (that dates to 1708) and mining of the raw materials. Then we were ushered thru a series of demonstrations that covered the forming of pieces, assembling parts, and two stages of hand-painting.

Like any such tour we headed thru the gift shop on our way to the exit.

We saw some very interesting pieces.
And came up with a great way to spend your children’s inheritance.

From there we headed downtown for a ‘walking tour’ – actually more of a climbing tour. From the bus park we walked to the main market square.

City hall
Church steeple – note the porcelain bells
Castle church rising above the town
Taxi
This conversation portal (designed so people can sit and chat with passers-by) contains additional information about the house: built in 1761, by someone who provided wine for the prince.
When it became time to do some serious climbing we left part of our party to hold down the fort back in the square.
And headed up to the castle for a closer look. Note the pictures of St. George/dragon and the apostle Paul above the gate.
The castle was built on the highest ground in the area and was used for several years by two brothers who jointly ruled the region. Before the castle was completed the brothers divided up their territory and left Meissen – one moved to Dresden, the other moved to Wittenberg. The castle sate empty until it saw use as the first manufacturing plant for Meissen porcelain (chosen because of its defensive position – they were really paranoid about someone stealing their formula for making porcelain). When porcelain production moved down to its present site the castle was converted into a museum, but since it was never actually occupied, there is really nothing to see inside.
Connected to the castle is the cathedral – build between 1260 and 1410.

We wandered a bit, learned about several of the buildings on castle hill, and headed back down to the town.

We had time for a short nap/bit of reading before heading down to the lounge for the Repeat Viking Customer Reception, champagne toast, aquavit slamming.

Being welcomed by the senior staff
Cruise Director Jamie arrived in costume to give the port talk about our visit to Dresden tomorrow.

Then it was time to head down to dinner.

Tonight’s dinner was a Bavarian feast. We ate until it hurt, then had dessert.

Following dinner I returned to the room to work on this post while Cheryl and Billie retired to the lounge where a clarinet/accordion duo were holding forth.

So that’s today. Tomorrow is Dresden.

till then, TTFN,

R

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