Day Nine - Thursday 16 October 2014 - Dresden Germany

Paddle Boat docked on the Elbe River in Dresden.

 Alarm woke me at 7am -- raining pretty hard  -- think we'll be taking the city tour on a bus today -- Phil and I signed up for the walking tour since we are docked close to the town center.

After breakfast -- still drizzling -- Phil decides on the walking tour with about 20 other guests -- I'm on the bus.   Dresden in daylight is lovely --- paddle steamers line the banks of the Elbe -- where races take place three times a year.   

Augustus the Strong!

The Elbe River runs through the middle of Dresden --- founded on the site of a Slavic fishing village sometime before 1206.  The city thrived under the reign of George the Bearded from 1500 to 1539.   However it was in 1694 when Augustus the Strong (1670- 1733) came to power that construction really took off as Dresden was on its way to becoming a European center for culture and technology.   Augustus traveled throughout Europe getting ideas and implementing them in Dresden.  He was a patron of the arts and architecture introducing the first public museums.   He was enamored with the Palace of Versailles in France using it as a model for many of Dresden's palaces.    

Our tour bus with Christina, as guide, crosses the river to Newtown -- the oldest section of Dresden  which is the site of Germany's first chocolate factory founded in 1804.   She also tells us that the 1st toothpaste, mouthwash and shoe polish were all  discovered in Dresden. 

Crossing back over the Elbe on the Carola Bridge we go by the Volkswagon Factory where their Phaeton model is assembled -- the building is all glass with the assembly line visible to onlookers.     Tours are available but we decided there were other things we'd rather see.  Our first stop is the Zwinger Palace which now holds  several museums but it is the vast courtyard that is stunning  -- we are about to hear the collection of Meissen bells which gently ring at various time during the day.  You can see the white bells surrounding the clock on the video accessed by clicking the link below:

 

 Meissen Bells at the Zwinger Palace

We walk over to see the Church of Our Lady -- a Lutheran Church (originally Catholic) -- destroyed in World War II -- left in ruins by the Communists but after reunification in the 1990's it was completely rebuilt -- absolutely stunning.

Altar in Church of Our Lady

 Our next stop is the Green Vault -- the oldest museum in the world founded in 1723 by our good friend Augustus the Strong.  The treasures here are vast, varied and emphasize the opulence of the royal class in the 18th Century.   Gold and precious gems have a big presence in this collection which includes painting, sculptures, jewelry and models of palaces and other structures.   For two centuries the rooms of the Green Vault remained unchanged but in 1938 when war was imminent these priceless pieces were moved to Dresden's Konigstein Fortress.   At the end of World War II the treasures were confiscated by the Red Army and moved to the Soviet Union  --- in 1958 they returned to Dresden.   After a couple of temporary "homes" the part of the collection centering on works of art was moved to the New Green Vault  on the second floor of the rebuilt Dresden Castle in 2004.   Two years later the Historic Green Vault with it's 3,000 pieces of jewelry and goldsmith's art opened in a suite of rooms on the first floor of the castle looking just as it had in 1733 -- the year of its founder's death. (Unfortunately the Green Vault does not allow photographs).

Dave, Patte, Phil in Dresden's Market Square.

After our tour of the Green Vault,  Patte, Dave and I met Phil who had finished a little earlier and meandered over to the market square to have lunch at another of Phil's finds --  Kurfurstenschanke -- can you pronunce that?  neither can I.      The important thing is that the food was good and there was plenty of it --- I even veered off my "plant-strong" diet and had a wonderful veal dish.

After lunch -- Phil went for a walk --- Patte, Dave and I headed to the "Old Masters Gallery" at the Zwinger Museum complex ---- very enjoyable and just enough --- we were able to see it all.     

The Opera House in Dresden.

 At 2:45 pm we are ready for our tour of the Opera House --- several folks from the boat are also on this tour.   Thomas is our guide --- he's a bit dramatic.  The tour was mediocre -- lots of background noise from other groups and vacuuming going on so it was difficult to hear Thomas.    We spent a lot of time in the hallways when we expected to see "behind the scenes" stuff like backstage and dressing rooms -- that didn't happen.  All in all it was okay --  this is a beautiful facility which has, of course, like everything else been rebuilt -- reopening in 1985 after total destruction during World War II.

Food Hall in Newtown section of Dresden.

After the tour we split up --- Phil and I walk across the river to Newtown since he had not seen it on his walk this morning -- we stopped at the pharmacy and the food hall.  We boarded the Clara Schumann just in time for Stephanie's next day briefing.

Half of group had an early dinner since they were going to a concert. The rest of us ate at 7:00 pm and met a new couple -- Vince and Jean.  Later in the lounge a local combo -- two guys and a girl -- entertain with some beautiful chamber music.

It was a good long day in Dresden, Germany.

Thanks for Reading.

Pat