Tough drive here from Salzburg yesterday. 8 hours of heavy rain with visibility down to 75m at points coupled with several traffic jams. But all worth it today. Two facts define Dresden: first that was the capital of the kingdom of Saxony and second that the Allies firebombed and destroyed most ofit in 1945. So much of what we saw today has been rebuilt over the past 50 years - which has resulted in returning Dresden to the beautiful Baroque city it was. We started with the Old Masters art museum - the Gemaldarie which was 1st rate and included Raphael's Sistine Madonna as well as Giorgio's Sleeping Venus. The former is famous for those insouciant angels in the bottom who show up everywhere. Two of the three dozen Vermeers are found here as well.
We strolled around the old city all afternoon enjoying the architecture and the events of a busy Saturday. The ladies run followed the marathon.
We enjoyed Vespers in the Kreuzkirche with the famous all boys choir Kreuzchor - stunning voices. One can clearly see what few parts of various buildings survive the war as you can in these photos of the Frauenkirche. The dark stones are originals used to reconstruct a largely destroyed structure.
Too short a visit as we say everywhere. Our Westin is a bit Soviet but is located on the Elbe and across from the Golden Horse.
The wine isn't great but this is beer country anyway so no complaints :-)
Fiona & Carl
Location:Dresden, Germany
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