Dresden

We'd been interested in visiting Dresden ever since seeing a special about the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche, which was almost totally destroyed, along with most of the city, during WWII.

Setting out from the boat on foot, we walked along Brühl's Terrace, set between the river Elbe and the Old Town.  Also nicknamed “The Balcony of Europe”, the terraced promenade was part of Dresden’s original rampart, until it became the garden of the Royal Palace.  It is lined by some of Dresden’s most beautiful historic buildings, including the Royal Art Academy and the Albertinium Museum.

                                     

The Procession of Princes (Fürstenzug) is the largest porcelain mural in the world, depicting a parade of Saxonian princes and dukes to commemorate the 1000-year long reign of the Wettin dynasty. 330 feet long and made out of 25,000 tiles from the porcelain manufacturer Meissen, the mural covers the exterior of the Royal Mews in Auguststrasse.

                                                             

The Zwinger Palace is one of the finest examples of late Baroque architecture in Germany. Built between 1710 and 1728, the Zwinger was used for court festivities and tournaments. Today, the Baroque complex of pavilions, galleries and inner courtyards is home to first-class museums.  Here's the courtyard (check out our local tour guide in the foreground, complete with her "lollipop".

Then, the Frauenkirche.  Dresden’s Church of Our Lady has a moving history: In World War II, when air-raids wiped out the city center, the grand church collapsed into a 42 feet high pile of rubble. The ruins were left untouched until 1994, when the painstaking reconstruction of the church began. Almost completely financed by private donations from around the world, the people of Dresden could celebrate the resurrection of their Frauenkirche in 2005.

Once away from the historic city center, one can cross the Elbe River and enter a newer part of town. This area contains shopping and plenty of Soviet-era apartment blocks.  The blocks are not the best-looking buildings, although since the reunification of Germany, people have tried to make them more presentable.  Many of the apartment blocks are owned by the city and used for low-income housing. The apartments are all the same, and our guides, some of whom grew up in the buildings, tell us that they are cramped and very poorly ventilated.  The city's circus building, damaged during the war, was replaced by apartments.  A fountain commemorates the circus:

The Golden Rider...Augustus the Strong.  Now a major landmark.

A story from one of our guides.  Being out from under Soviet rule took some getting used to.  Under the Soviets, many things were not readily available, but were smuggled in.  This included money (once the family received money that had been placed inside a block of butter by a relative) and many food items. Smuggled bananas (considered an exotic and rare treat) and other items were passed from shopkeepers, literally "under the counter", to friends and relatives.  At reunification, our guide, who had never been outside the Eastern bloc, went to a "western" greengrocer.  She asked the salesperson if they had any bananas. "Why of course" was the reply.  Our guide asked how many she could buy.  When the salesperson said "as many as you want!  Your heart's desire!"  our guide almost fainted dead away.  She'd never heard of such a thing.

From Dresden, we headed upriver again toward Meissen.

Boat and Bastei

Somewhere in Viking River Cruise's handbook for employees, there's a rule that Viking never tell anyone anything that is less than optimum until everyone's on the bus with their luggage loaded. Adhering to this regulation, upon boarding the bus to Melnik to embark, we were told that the boat couldn't get that far up the River Elbe due to low water.  OMG, here we go again!!

Instead, we would be taking the scenic route along the river (that we should have been on) to Bad Schandau (hereafter referred to as "BS") for two overnights.  We prayed to all the river gods that the boat would be able to get out of BS...if not, it'd be the busses.  First day in BS, we stayed on board, visited the boat's library (OK, the boat's bookshelf) and found a book about local wines.  Jotted down the names of the local specialities and headed off to find the BS grocery store.  Great place, the Naukauf store, they had all the local wines.  From our dock next to the town parking lot, we could see that BS appeared to be a kickoff point for a number of people who were going hiking.  Walking around town, we saw photos of a rock bridge that must have been somewhere nearby.  When we got back to the boat, we realized that the next day, the shore tour was to that bridge!  Well, alrighty then, we'd go.

The park with the bridge is called Bastei.  The Bastei is a rock formation towering 194 meters above the Elbe in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains of Germany.  Reaching a height of 305 meters above sea level, the jagged rocks of the Bastei were formed by water erosion over one million years ago. They are the the major landmark of the Saxon Switzerland National Park.  They are also part of a climbing and hiking area that extends over the borders into the Bohemian Switzerland (Czech Republic).

The view of the valley was unbelievable:

And here's the Bastei Bridge, built in 1851 to replace the original wooden one:

All was right with our world after vising Bastei, especially since we had some of that local wine stashed in the room.  That evening, the boat had set up a German Buffet, complete with costumed staff members (our waiter looked great in lederhosen) and entertainment.

Then, back outside for another view of the Bastei Bridge, this time from the water, because we finally got moving!

And finally, the sunset from a moving boat:

Now we were on our way to Dresden and looking forward to it.  This was someplace we'd been wanting to see for years, ever since we saw a special about the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche after it was mostly demolished during WWII.

Prague

Prague was the kickoff point for our Viking River Cruise.  We caught the train from Vienna and then hoofed it to the Hilton.  Way too upscale for us, we know, but Viking was paying.  The hotel was well located, near the river, so after a quick run to the Billa store for wine, we took off to explore the river, castle district, and the old town.

The first thing we saw, on the other side of the river, looked like a giant metronome.

And that's what it is.  It's a giant, functional metronome in Letna Park, overlooking the Vltava River. It was erected in 1991, on the plinth left vacant by the destruction in 1962 of an enormous monument to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (the Stalin statue, too big to be moved, was blown to bits while the citizens of Prague cheered).  

A view over Prague, on the way up the hill to the castle:

At the Prague Castle, the main attraction is the towering St. Vitus Cathedral.  It's on the highest point on the hill and can be seen from all over town:

Marionettes and puppets are big business in Prague, and there were tons of shops where master craftsmen showed off their creations.  We especially liked this "kitchen witch", although she'd take up a lot of room in the kitchen:

The way back to the old town is across the ancient (and crowded) Charles Bridge:

Some detail from the bridge:

In old town, the Astronomical Clock:

And, like in Munich, leftover entry towers from when the city was walled:

During the day, we scouted for restaurants and narrowed it down to two, both nearby.  After a couple of glasses of wine, we settled on the closest one and enjoyed excellent Veal Schnitzel and the best Confit of Duck ever...along with dumplings and Czech beer, of course.

Speaking of beer, here's another reason to love Prague:

OK, next, it's onward to the boat.  The mystery builds...will we stay on the boat this time or be cast back into bus hell?

Back to Vienna in the Summertime

A return to some of the places we'd seen briefly on the earlier trips and vowed to spend more time ...here are the impressions.

Downtown, and St. Stephans:

Museum area, impressive statue of Maria Theresia (a beloved Habsburg):

Old School Streetcar:

Schoenbrunn Palace and gardens:

The heirs to the fortune, at (where else?) the beer garden:

For more on Vienna, see previous blogs.  Next stop, Prague!

Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix

The six-and-a-half hour train trip from Munich to Graz, Austria passed through some of the most beautiful country we'd ever seen.  Mountainous, richly forested, and packed with ski areas, this must be a winter wonderland, but during the summer it is unbelievably green.  And did we take any pictures from the train?  No.  Duh.

Anyway, got to Graz and hooked back up with Steve and Angie for the Formula 1 event.  The Red Bull Ring racetrack is in the hills, and it's a gorgeous venue.  As Will Buxton sang last year:  "the hills are alive with the sound of turbos".  For its part, Red Bull does an incredible job with this race...well organized, and top of the line everything.  Even an airshow to start off the race day.

Some views of the track:

And here's some noise!

And best of all, Lewis Hamilton didn't win.  Nico Rosberg won, followed by Hamilton and Felipe Massa.  Here goes the winner, followed by Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel:

After the F1 race, it was on to Vienna to see the kids.

Munich

We've been through the Munich airport so many times we've lost count, but never went into the city.  With a few days to kill in between races, we decided to finally check it out.  A last minute change in hotels (the one we were supposed to stay in had an air conditioning breakdown) placed us in The Cocoon, aptly named, close to the train station and well into Arab territory.  No surprise, because in Europe these days anywhere near a train station has gone that way.  The train station in Munich is a foodie heaven...everything you can imagine, and it's all "to go".  Also nearby, the wonderful Karstadt department store with its gourmet (and wine!) section.

The historic part of Munich blends with the shopping streets, and the area can be entered via the old towered entry points left over from when it was a walled city.  Here's the Karlstor, nearest our hotel:

Nearby, the Frauenkirche:

And, of course, the Marienhof with its animated clock.  Inside the Marienhof, a courtyard with original gargoyles, grotesques, and of course a beer garden.

At the other end of town, the Isartor:

And the happiest pig in town:

Having scoured the historic area and eaten a big German dinner, we spent the next day checking out the English Garden.  It's beautiful and huge.  We will say, it really needs more "standort" (German for "you are here") signs.  Here's a photo from somewhere in the park...we were lost at the time.

And then we were off via train for Graz, Austria and the Austrian Grand Prix!  Right after we stopped at the bakery in the train station...