Here I am in Dresden

Well, I made it through Berlin, and arrived in Dresden on Tuesday PM. Found a hostel near the train station and downtown, so that's where I'm camped. Only problem is no laundry facilities and none nearby. Hope Prague has some.

Back to Berlin. On Monday, I did the museum thing. First the Alte (Old) Museum, with an exhibition on one floor of Grecian artifacts. The second floor had an Egxptian exhibit.

There were several other museums on "Museum Island" but they were undergoing some reconstruction/refurbishment. So I went to the historical museum nearbye. Their theme was postwar Germany, with a fine film (unfortunately narrated in German only) about the times from the end of the war to reunification. Even without dialog, it was very interesting.

Two floors of exhibits were filled with photos covering the same time period. The individual captions were only in German, but each section had a general description in English. It gave a good cultutal, political, and basic view of life and attitudes on both sides of the East/West line.

From there I walked to the Brandenburg gate and over to the Reichstag, or parliament building. Burned and bombed to a shell, but reconstructed. It has a glass dome on the roof, and a circular path to near the peak of the dome. Great views.

Then on to a really good dinner on Unter Den Linden Strasse. I'm told it means "Under the lime trees", but they didn't look like any lime trees I've seen. Who am I to complain?

Wandered around the area near the hotel on Tuesday AM before the train to Dresden. Not much exciting. Mostly business buildings, no residential that I could find.

When I got to Dresden, I wandered around town to get my bearings. Huge number of really old buildings here. Dresden was nearly leveled close to the end of WWII. Most buildings have been rebuilt. What I don't understand is the varied colors of the buildings. Many are close to black, from age and smoke. Some have mixtures of black and light brown to yellow shading, with no rhyme or reason to the pattern. Looks like thyey rebuilt with some old material and some new. And some look brand new. Tis a puzzelment!!! But still beautiful to see.

Yesterday I took the Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour, as there is too much territory to cover when walking. Went to several Schloss's (Castles), but they looked more like what I#c call mansions, not castles. Couldn't get inside, so I was a bit disappointed. Also saw soem interesting parts of town. Found teh Botanical Garden, but not many flowers.

VW has a factory here. It's referred to as the "Glass Factory". No, It doesn' make glass for VW's. It makes VW's- Its a glass building. At least all teh outside is glass. I'm sure there's a lot of steel supporting it. Quite impressive, though.

Had dinner in a restaurant in a cellar. How can you go wrong eating in a cellar in Germany. Not possible. I did have a good dinner. They seated me at a table with a visitor from Japan, so we had a great time trying to talk. He spoke more English than I do anything. Reminds me od a joke I heard, in Geramy years ago.

What is a person who is bi-lingual? A person who speaks two languages.

What is a person who is tri-lingual? A person who speaks three languages.

What is a person who is mono-lingual?

ready for this?

An American.

How true.

Moving on. I got my ticket to Prague, and I leave tomorrow just after noon, 2 hour trip. Tains are really nice, by the way.

This afternoon, I walked to the Neustadt (New Town) part of Dresden over the Elbe river. Wasn't the Elbe where the allied armies had to stop advancing and wait for the Russians to take Berlin? Anyway, I had a nice walk, and a quick lunch, then back to Dresden proper.

Went to the (you guessed it) museum complex. This time the art museum. Many of the old master's, whose names I've heard, but know nothing about. Included were El Greco, Goya, Rubens, and Raphael's painting, the "Sistine Madonna". Anyone remeber the photo I forwarded from Mexico of cherubs smoking? Same cherubs at the bottom of this painting, but sans cigarettes.

Then to the armory. Lots of swords, flintlocks, and suits of armor. The detailed engraving and inlay work was more interesting than the primary exhibits. I got busted twice today taking photos. I turned my flash off, as I am supossed to do, but I found out I also have to have a special ticket to take photos.

I wanted to see teh porcelain exhibit, but my ticket wans't good for that, and there wasn't much time left, so I decided to pass. Two ladies who were leaving overheard my predicament, and gave me an extra ticket they had. Said 45 minutes would be enough time. So I went. Thanks, ladies.

Glad I did. It cleared up something I've been puzzling about since I've been here. I've always heard of "Dresden China" but have seen no mention of it since arriving. Turns out (it appears) that Dresden China is the porcelain collection in Dresden started by Agustus the Strong in the early 1700's. Porcelain is actually manufactured near here, in Meissen, but the copllection is Chinese, Japanese and also some from Meissen.

It's way past my supper time, and I think I'll head back to the cellar one more time. I#ll try my hand at posting this on the blog. Wish me luck.