Dresden

This morning I'm leaving Dresden and heading south, upstream along the Elbe, to Bad Schandau in the Saechsische Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland). I have really good internet here, and I suspect I won't have any in Bad Schandau, so I'll upload lots of photos of Dresden, and caption them later when I have time. Beware - this is a very long post.

First, my accommodation here is about 2km from the Hauptbahnhof and about 4km from the Altstadt. Transport is easy - buses run every 10-15 minutes to the Hbf and connect with frequent trams to the Altstadt. The pension is in a house that was built in 1906 and was untouched during the war. It has high ceilings, squeaky stairs, and lots of paintings by Paul Poetsch, the original owner and great-grandfather of the current owner. I have a separate bathroom next to my bedroom but half a floor above (6 steps). It's an interesting house.

It's the dark yellow house

Looking into my room. Bathroom is up those stairs

The windows look west

Breakfast in the breakfast room across the hall

Now to the Altstadt. Theaterplatz is where the Hofkirche, the Semperoper, the Zwinger and the Residenzschloss are located.

Hofkirche on the left, Zwinger middle, Semperoper on the right

This is the Semperoper, the opera house, named after its designer.

Semperoper on the left, looking across towards the Hofkirche

And the Zwinger, which is absolutely gorgeous.  Part of the city wall, it was expanded by Augustus II into an outdoor ballroom.

Some general shots as I was walking around. Both days have been really hot, so I headed back to my room for a couple of hours during the heat of the day, and went back to the Altstadt in the evening. First of all, a couple of shots of where I had tea on Wednesday.

This fountain is near the Hbf, not in the Altstadt, but...

Hofkirche on left, Residenzschloss on right

And again, at night

Residenzschloss

Note the buskers.  They were fantastic

And some views along the Elbe. Dresden has Stadtmauer (city walls) along the Elbe rather than relying on the river as a defensive barrier.

Because the Elbe is so low (58cm at the moment), most of the paddlesteamers aren't running, and my plans to travel from Dresden to Bad Schandau along the Elbe are up the creek (45 minutes on the train is not nearly so much fun). Only the smallest Dampfschiff, the Diesbar, is running, and she's doing 90 minute round trips to the Blue Wonder, which is basically where I went with the Segway. Nevertheless, on Thursday evening (in 36 degree heat!) I travelled up the Elbe.

These people had the right idea...

...lots of families swimming in the river