Day 10, Sightseeing in Dresden
Monday, June 1, 2015
A few days ago, Dick damaged the attachment of his righthand pannier of his
BMW so this morning he had an early breakfast and went to the BMW dealer in
Dresden to get it repaired.
I stayed in bed a little longer, and had breakfast at half past eight. Then I
had to wait until almost ten o'clock until Dick came back from the BMW dealer.
(but his pannier is fixed, for free !). We took the tram line seven to
the "Hauptbahnhof", that is the central train station, in Dresden.
At the Hauptbahnhof in Dresden
The area from the train station to the center is a new shopping area (
Dresden has only a few original old monumental buildings left because of the
heavy bombardments bij the RAF in the second world war).
One interesting new building was the "Kristallpalast", the Crystal Palace, a
movie theater with a front made out of glass.
the "Kristallpalast"
After Dick had changed his Czech Kronen for Euro's, we went to the Rathaus, that
is the city hall. It was surrounded by fences and they were renovating it so
we did not get the beautiful pictures we hoped for.
City Hall
We were told that the "Altmarkt", the old market square, was a beautiful square
with old buildings. There were some nice buildings but I was not impressed.
At the Altmarkt
When we walked in the direction of the river Elbe, the streets became more
interesting.
This is more like it !
Beside old buildings, I also like old motorcycles and in a clothing store,
I saw a Harley Davidson from 1929 !
1929 model Harley Davidson
Then we came on the Schloss Platz, a square at the end of the Augustus Brucke,
a bridge over the Elbe. There are some very nice buildings here !
The "Standehaus"
Another nice old building
One very special piece of art that you don't want to miss in Dresden is the
The "Furstenzug", the largest image with ceramic tiles in the world, with
all the kings of the family Wettin until 1918.
The "Furstenzug"
Detail of the "Furstenzug"
The baroque "Frauenkirche",
build between 1726 and 1743
In front of the Frauenkirche is a statue of Martin Luther, the monk and
theologian who started the reformation in 1517.
Statue of Martin Luther
A very modern building is the new Jewish synagogue on the St.Petersburger
Strasse.
The new Jewish synagogue
Dresden is devided by the river Elbe and there are a number of bridges
over the Elbe, like the "Augustus Brucke". As you can see on the picture,
river tours are polulair too.
The river Elbe
A beautiful fountain near the "Augustus Brucke"
The "Katholische Hofkirche" on the Schloss Platz
Detail of the "Katholische Hofkirche"
Then it was time to cross the river over the Augustus Brucke. From
the bridge, you have a nice view on the buildings on the river bank.
View from the bridge
Another view from the bridge
(I checked if there was no tram coming)
On the other side of the Elbe, we went to the "Japanische Palais", the
Japanese Palace in English. We wanted to visit the museum but it is
closed on Monday. .
The "Japanische Palais"
On the Carola Platz is a very shiny statue, called the "Goldener Reiter",
the Golden Rider.
The "Goldener Reiter"
At a restauranmt at the corner of Neustadter Markt, we had lunch. Dick had spaghetti
and I had a basket with bread. The spaghetti was OK, Dick told, but the bread was
just bread and a little glass with fat from a pig. Not what I expected. But the coffee
was good !
This part of the city is not very interesting if you like historical
buildings because it is all new, but nevertheless it is a nice neighbourhood.
Shops and a lot of "green".
One nice building is the "Markthalle", a covered market with all kind of
shops.
In the "Markthalle"
Before we walked back over the bridge, we got a tasty icecream at the
Neustadter Markt. Over the bridge, we went to the right to the Theater Platz.
The "Semperoper" on Theater Platz
A big statue in front of the "Semperoper"
Detail of the top of the entrance of the "Semperoper"
Theater Platz
One of the most beautiful buildings I saw in Dresden was the "Zwinger mit
Semperbau" (Zwinger and Semper Building)
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Info about Zwinger from the website of the "Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden"
The world-famous Zwinger is one of the most magnificent Baroque buildings in
Germany. With its pavilions and galleries, the "Crown Gate", the "Nymphs' Bath"
and not least the gardens in the Zwinger courtyard, it is an oasis for every
visitor to Dresden. The strange-sounding name "Zwinger" is a term used in
military architecture and is a reference to the building's original position
in front of the defensive wall around the city. However, even in August the
Strong's time, the Zwinger did not have the function of a fortification.
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Entrance of the Zwinger with the
Crown Gate in the background
Many beautiful fountains....
....and magnificent architecture
The beautiful Crown Gate
Through the Zwinger, we walked back to the tram to get back to the
hotel but first we came through another shopping mall and in one of
the corridors I saw this nice graffiti on a wall.
Nice graffiti on a wall in a shopping mall
There are a lot of fountains in the new square's between the shops
and one I like in particular..
I liked the design of this fountain
Soon after we left the square with the fountain, we found a tram stop
of line seven and a few minutes later, the tram arrived.
After another twenty minutes in the tram, we were back at the hotel.
Just in time because when we were back inside, the rain started.
The tram that we had, back to the hotel
Our original plan was to go to Erfurt tomorrow but unfortunately, the hotels
that had a good parking for our motorcycles and that were not very expensive,
had no rooms or only one room left. The closest we could get was kilometers
outside Erfurt.
Time for plan B. We do not go to Erfurt but will ride almost six hundred
kilometer to "Gastehaus der food-akademie" on the Langendorfer Strasse 155 in
Neuwied. That is close to an old volcano and a cold water geyser and we will
visit those the day after tomorrow.
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