We were up early and breakfasted before heading up to the sun deck for a narrated arrival into Dresden. Cruise Director Jamie talked about significant buildings and such as they came into view.
Dresden Skyline. Everything you see here was reduced to rubble by bombing in the closing days of WWII.He commented on how low the river is. At normal flow the river will extend almost to the path that runs on this side of he hedge.This is the ‘Japanese Palace’ – constructed to house the significant number of items from the Far East acquired by Augustus the Strong. (You’ll hear a lot about him in the next few minutes.)The Catholic Cathedral. While Germany was a Protestant country and Augustus’s (in his local role of Prince-Elector of Saxony) was officially tolerant of all religions, when he became King of Poland he was required to convert to Roman Catholicism. The school of Fine arts with its glass dome – nicknamed ‘the Lemon Squeezer’.The administrative offices of the state of Saxony (Dresden is the state capitol)There are a number of paddle-wheelers plying the river.Eventually we arrived at our mooring site, and since I was on the top deck anyway, I wandered over to watch the first officer bring us into dock. He has three thruster controls. This boat has jet propulsion and three sets of jets that can be rotated. Each wheel controls one set – both direction and thrust. It was a pretty cool process to watch him use two of the three in tandem to position us…While the captain ran the winch to lower the gangway into position.
Once we were docked and tied down 9 of us boarded our bus for the all-day tour of ‘Dresden and the Elbe Valley’. We started with a bus ride thru some of the more interesting neighborhoods while our guide talked about the industrialists who built the mansions we were seeing. (Like the guy who invented shoe polish, and the guy who invented modern toothpaste). At one point we stopped so we could get out and view some rather large homes across the river.
This owner was enamored of Tudor era British style.This one just wanted to be bigger than his neighbor.We also saw the plant where they manufacture the all-electric VW ID.4
Leaving the city we wended our way through the countryside ending up at Augustus’ ‘hunting lodge’.
This is what passes for a hunting lodge when you’re called Augustus. Actually ‘the Strong’ had it built but it was his son Augustus III who loved to hunt and used it frequently.When they built the lodge they joined several small lakes into a dramatic mote-like structure. The lodge is 10 miles from DresdenYou need really high ceilings to display this many antlers.Augustus-tS was a great collector of ‘oddities’. This room displayed heads (covered in gold) with mis-sharpen antlers.The wall coverings are leather – some stamped, some embossed, some just painted.This room displays Asian artifacts. Asia was a fascinating subject for both Agustuses (tS and III). It’s notable that the chest on the left is original. The one on the right is a copy manufactured in Dresden. It takes a really trained eye to tell them apart.When you are (Catholic) King of Poland you need a chapel. So this one was added to the building.And after a successful hunt you want to feed your guests.
The next event was a ride on a narrow-gauge train. We were shuttled to the Mortzburg train station.
Where we waited a bit (by the way it was REALLY windy)…For the train to arriveAnd got on board. This is Katherine, our guide for yesterday and today.
Our route took us past Segeberg where the annual Karl May Festival was taking place. May was a very popular German author who wrote stories about the American west – never having been there. Eventually he was returning from a trip to the Far East by way of America, saw the reality of who Native Americans really were and how they were treated and never wrote another novel in that genera. However the festival goes on. We saw children dressed in ‘Indian feathers’, tepees, along with buckskins with fringes, and soldiers (union, confederate, and period German). Sadly (or gladly) the train was moving too fast to get good images.
Following the train ride it was lunchtime. Lunch today was at a local winery.
It was a beautiful bright sunny day (but did I mention the wind?). And people were enjoying a glass and a bite.We, however (old folk, remember?) were served a wonderful lunch inside – complete with enough wine that we napped on the trip back to Dresden…After the obligatory stop at the wine shop.
Arriving in the old town center of Dresden Katherine woke us up and made us walk. She talked at length about the war, the bombing that leveled much of the city and reconstruction that happened (or didn’t) when the area was part of East Germany – and after.
These building are all new in the past dozen years. The architecture is strictly controlled to present a setting very reminiscent of Dresden before the war.Of particular note is the Frauenkirche (church of our Lady). As recently as 2000 it was a pile of rubble. During the bombing of Dresden a bomb exploded inside the church. Before the rubble was cleared away computer simulations of he explosion were made and it was possible to closely predict where individual bricks would have been located in the original building. As a result bricks from the rubble were reused in approximately the same places they would have originally been. They can be noted because of their darker color. The dark color comes from the patina of aging sandstone (we’ll see more of this tomorrow), not from the fires.We also saw the rebuilt Opera House – again conforming closely to the original facade.We took a look at the Zwinger Palace. This evening we will attend a concert in the concert hall upstairs in this photo.This is Agustus’s palace. Again, note the old bricks contrasting with the new bricks.Along the way we walked down a lane where all the princes/kings of Saxony are displayed, in procession, in order, in period costume. This is Augustus tS on the rearing horse with Augustus III (the hunter) riding next to him.
Our walk ended at the Green Vault – In addition to collecting mistresses, Augustus tS collected exquisite objects. These were transported away from Dresden during the war and are displayed in an amazing collection. You can see the pieces we found most impressive in a separate post.
After dinner we returned to the Zwinger palace for a concert. A small ensemble from one of the local orchestras performed works from the 16th century (Mozart, Boccherini, Vivaldi) and the 17th century (Bizet, Tschaikowsky, Strauss, and Lehar). They were energetic and excellent. It was a really fun evening.
On the way back to the ship we recorded a great sunset…and a few views of Dresden in the evening.
Then it was back to the room to read and blog and prepare for our last full day on the river.
