Dresden

Another good day in the books, and I think dad is whooped! We are in our hotel with the lights on, and he has fallen asleep anyway. We are without internet, so I have no idea when this post or the previous will get put up.

Today we journeyed to Dresden from Berlin, as detailed in the previous and overdue Berlin post. In Dresden, we put down our bags and quickly headed off to Saxon Switzerland National Park to do some hiking (and to clarify, not anywhere near Switzerland). Although the weather was sunny when we left Dresden, we did run into quite a bit of rain during our hike. It was a fantastic hike around the Elbe River, and we climbed about 1,000ft atop cliffs overlooking the river. Even with the bad weather, it was clear to see the beauty of the region. We hiked around some old castle ruins before heading back to the ferry across the Elbe and train back to Dresden. Overall, a great little hike, and the villages we went through along the Elbe were some of the most charming I have seen in former East Germany.

Back in Dresden, we did the guided walking tour as well as walked through a number of other areas. The old city of Dresden is really pretty fantastic, and it is incredible to see how they have recovered from both the WWII firebombing and then communism. There were far fewer remaining communist scars visible here than what I have witnessed in several of the other cities over the past few weeks. We were really impressed with the Zwinger, Semperoper, Royal Palace, monstrous Frauenkirche, and the many other finely restored buildings. The riverfront might not be as nice as some of the others I have seen on the trip, but when combined with the old town skyline, it was right at the top.

Today we had more of the same from yesterday, a complaint when I bought a German chocolate bar stuffed with berry filling. After eating his half, dad suddenly thought it was pretty good! We did have an improvement today--no complaint when I stopped for Gelato. Dad thoroughly enjoyed his strawberry chocolate and kiwi flavors!

We again finished the day off right--with a fantastic sunset dinner on the Elbe. Dad had a traditional Saxony wurst plate (Andrew would have been jealous) as well an unfiltered Saxon beer. I departed from the normal choice and instead went with a hearty salad.

Tomorrow we will see a few more sights in Dresden before heading to Leipzig. With Leipzig's limited sights, we will not spend a lot of time there. Our main reason for going is to catch a Bach concert in Bach's original church, Thomaskirche. After the concert, we are on a late night train to Weimar, where our hotel is right next to the train station.

Congrats to MC and all of those finishing school!