Dresden, Saxony, and our first 2013 visitor!

We were so excited for the arrival of our first family member and guest of 2013 - cousin JJ.  We picked J up from FRA on the morning of March 29th after his overnight flight from O'Hare and got right on the road for our 4 hour trip to Eastern Germany.   We stopped at a pretty nice Autohof for breakfast and then pulled into Dresden early afternoon.  To J's surprise we travelled on more than one Autobahn :) We found parking in the city, close to our Aparthotel, Am Schloss but set out on foot for a little sight seeing since we couldn't check in till 3:00.
Immediately, we were impressed with the grand architecture and beauty of Dresden on the cold and dreary day!

The Hofkirche and Royal Palace Buildings

Augustus Bridge over the River Elbe to the New Town

It was definitely a little colder than we thought it would be for the end of March so we found some heat lamps outside on the busy little restaurant line street, Münzgasse and warmed up with some Glühwein.  It was J's first experience with hot mulled wine and he said it took him a while to process it.  It was actually some of the better Glühwein I had ever had so he lucked out on the first try!

We gathered our belongings from the vehicle and headed up to our apartment which was in an excellent location in the Old Town next to everything in walking distance.  We all thawed out and our weary traveller put his feet up for a little rest before we headed out for dinner.

J gets warm and comfy after his long flight!

We went to the Altmarkt Keller for dinner that evening. It is a Sächsisch-Böhmisch Bierhaus and offered a great mix of Saxon and Bohemian food in the perfect atmosphere for our guest. I think J and I both had the first of many goulash dishes that we'd be eating for the next few days. Something we can never really go wrong with. Plus, we all enjoyed the Czech beers.

In the Altmarkt Keller describing the friendship between Dresden and Prague - "The sunshine of life is drinking and being happy"

We were all tired but couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to visit the Irish Bar right around the corner from the apartment.  A few Guinness's later we headed back to the apartment to rest up for a full day 2 in Dresden.  As usual I've captioned all of the PICTURES from Day 1 but put the slide show up too because it's fun!



Saturday, March 30

The sun was out but it was deceiving.  It was cold, our guest had a bit of a cold so what better way to explore a new city than the HoHo!   We boarded the double decker at the Main Bridge and spent a good chunk of time going by many of the sights we'd walked by but hearing the commentary in the warmth of the bus.  It was great, plus, this HoHo took us into more residential parts of the city, Blasewitz and Loschwitz, as we made our way across the Elbe River and into the New Town.  Look through the PICTURES to see the Transparent Volkswagen Factory and 3 beautiful little castles along the Elbe. 



Augustus the Strong in Neustadt

We hopped off the HoHo in the Neustadt to do a little sight seeing and find a place for lunch.  I love when we stumble into a place and I later on realize it was a recommended place from Rick's book.  The Wenzel Prager Bierstuben was another excellent choice for local cuisine and beers and we all walked away from there happy.  In the Neustadt there really aren't any famous sights but it's the only part of Dresden that predates WWII.  We walked into the main square where a small Easter market was happening and a petting zoo was set up.
 

We all loved these strange ducks:

 



 

I mainly wanted to walk across the Augustus Bridge for a view of the Old Town Panoramic view. 







Back in the Old Town we visited The Zwinger - a palace complex of Baroque masterpiece once the pride and joy of the Wettin dynasty (the Wettins ruled Saxony for over 800 years) but now it is filled with museums.  In the 18th century, the larger than life Augustus the Strong (the prince elector of Saxony and king of Poland) used the Zwinger for celebrations of Saxon royalty.

 

 



Museums of the Zwinger and courtyard

We didn't do any of the museums, the one that we wanted to do the Mathematics-Physics Salon, for our Math Teacher guest was closed for renovation.  Instead we walked the grounds and terraces on the upper levels.

 



Upper level terrace adorned with tons of statues



I'm sure these grounds are much more beautiful in the summer!

We found a cafe to warm up in and then made our way back to the apartment.  Our tired traveller fell asleep and we let him sleep while we ventured out into the lovely night in search for dinner.  



Buildings and the Frauenkirche on the Neumarkt Square

It was busy in Dresden during the Easter Holiday weekend and we took our chances finding a place without a reservation.  Luckily we didn't have to venture too far as Dave popped into the Freiberger Schankhaus to see if they had an open table the bartender said it was all full but one open table at the bar.  Perfect!  It was an awesome atmosphere inside the old Apotheke from 1756, wooden decor and their own special brews on tap. 

 

Dave was excited to finally sample the pork knuckle - or Schweinshaxe as it's called in our neck of the woods.



We stopped at trusty ole McD's and picked up a few treats for J before heading back to the hotel.  Sure, that's not original but he ate German McNuggets and a Flurry with Milka...can't have that in the USA!

Sunday, March 31st - Happy Easter!

The day's agenda was to travel outside of Dresden, about a 45 minute train ride southwest to the area known as the Sächsische Schweiz or Saxon Switzerland.

J was not feeling too great so he stayed in and slept it off while Dave and I braved the cold and took a ton of pictures for him. Our first stop along the River Elbe was Bad Schandau and the Saxon Switzerland National Park.  Saxon Switzerland alone has some 1,000 climbing peaks, as well as several hollows.  We walked from the train to the river where a ferry took us across to the icy sandstone hillside that we'd soon be climbing.

Saxon Switzerland NP on the River Elbe

It was a pretty trail up, with all sorts of interesting rock formations. Some spots were complete ice so we were careful and held onto railings when there was one!  We met a nice couple from Düsseldorf half way up and chatted with them after taking each others pictures.

Nationalpark Sächsische Schweiz overlooking the Elba Valley

We made it almost to the top where there is a Hotel and a number of hiking trails, just above the Bastei Bridge.

Bastei Bridge

We slid back down the mountainside, took the ferry across the river and boarded the train for one more stop, Königstein to see the massive Fortress above the Elbe.  It is one of the largest hilltop fortifications in Europe and thanks to this stolen pic from google, this is an aerial shot of Königstein Fortress. 

 

 

The town of Königstein itself is quite charming.  We walked to the center where we boarded the Festung Express that took us halfway up the mountain where we boarded another "Express"(I use express lightly as we probably could have walked it faster!) that took us to the base of the Fortress.  Wow - it looked big from below but standing at the bottom of the plateau and looking up at the 9.5 hectare rock really makes one feel tiny!
 

The Express Train at the base of the Fortress

From there we took an elevator up and took a perimeter walk around the wall fortress and didn't explore any of the 50 or so buildings within it.  We could have easily spend a day inside Königstein Fortress but it was really starting to get cold and snowy!  So we got some great photos, made the decent back to the river and took the train to Dresden to meet up with JJ.
 



Back in Dresden we walked from the train station directly to the Old Town down Prager Strasse which was basically a communist-built pedestrian mall in ruins till the 1960's.  Today it is a much more colorful and very large outdoor mall.  We met J back at the apartment where he was rested and feeling much better.  We had an Easter Dinner reservation at The Gasthaus am Neumarkt nearby which was really great, on a side street, quiet and quaint.  After dinner we had to check out the #1 rated place on Trip Advisor, The Karl May Bar that was located in the 5 Star Hotel Taschenbergpalais.  Dark, fine oak, red leather and ridiculously priced mediocre cocktails, this was certainly nice but not our cup of tea.  I completely forgot to take a picture of the martini glass concoction that was supposed to be my White Russian but I did get a shot of this guy behind me:

Around the corner was a Paulaner Bar that we decided to end our last day in Dresden.  It was a cold but great long weekend and hopefully a great introduction to Germany for our visitor.   Monday morning Dave headed back home with the car and JJ and I caught a train to Prague.  I was excited about the return visit to the great city and looked forward to J's reaction as well.  Stay tuned!