Dresden
Below a few impressions of Dresden. There is not much evidence of the fact that the city was flattened by the allied forces in the second world war.
The new & cheap hotel "Etap" in the centre of Dresden. Don't stay there with somebody you don't know intimately! The shower is a glass tube in the middle of the bedroom.
The royal palace and the palace church.
"Zwinger" palace and gardens.
Semper Opera (the Saxon State Opera) built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841.
The "Fürstenzug" (Procession of Princes), a 102m long wall with 23,000 painted porcelain tiles, showing the rulers of Saxony between 1127 and 1904.
View of the old (or rebuilt to look old) city from the top of the "Frauenkirche" (i.e. Church of Our Lady).
The famous Dresden Frauenkirche. Only a very small section remained standing after 1945 and was not rebuilt until 1990. Note the black sandstones are from the original building.
Leaving Dresden in the rain. Note the chimney of the paddle steamer is folded down to pass underneath the bridges.
The upper Elbe River
The sandstone rock formations and the wet forests in the Saxon Switzerland National Park are unique and fascinating!
View from our room in the "Berghotel Bastei".
The "Bastei" is a medieval fortification high above the river Elbe.
Waiting for the rain to stop at an old cistern in the "Bastei".
A market along the way. Note the prices: 3 large punnets of strawberries for 2 Euros!!
A picnic table German style.... I wonder who waters the flowers when it doesn't rain.... Mmh, I guess it often does.
The river seen from the fortress above Koenigstein.
This fortress is much larger and in much better condition, due to having been used continuously over the centuries. Now it's busy with tourists and weddings.
Czech Republic
To reach the source of the Spree we had to ride approx. 30km through the Czech Republic. Some of the houses were beautiful...
... but most of them looked like this:
The beginning of the ride along the Spree
There are actually 3 different springs of the Spree in 3 different towns and each one arguing they have the "real" one. Of course we had to visit all three!
This one didn't have water.
This one is lower in altitude than the other two.
This one is bubbling with fresh water and it is located high on a hill within a beautiful beech forest. It definitely gets my vote.
Riding along and across the upper reaches of the Spree (it's not very big yet!).
The first large town along the way: Bautzen.
Off to Berlin
After Bautzen we followed the Spree for another 3 days, one of which was in pouring rain and 12 degrees with an icy wind. With an even worse weather forecast for the rest of the week we decided to catch the train to Berlin to wait it out and buy some better wet weather gear. Below are some shots from along the way (not too many because nothing looks pretty when it's grey).
After Bautzen the landscape became very flat with lots of wheat fields, lakes and forests.
Restaurants along the way try all sorts of things to attract cyclists. At one place we had a hot lunch (Bratwurst, mashed potato, vegetables and salad) for 3 Euros (i.e. ~AUD4!!).
Interesting fountains and sculptures in every town.
Cottbus central market - one of the prettier towns.
Berlin
After a few "sorry we're full", we found a fantastic hotel room (actually a whole apartment!) very close to Potsdamer Platz, which is very central and moved in for 3 nights.
For dinner we had mozarella and tomoatoes every night and gorged ourselves on delicious seasonal fruit (in liquid and solid form!). You can only eat out so many times before you get sick of sausages!
View from our apartment: the French and German domes, the TV tower and the Berlin Cathedral.
The famous Checkpoint Charlie between the former soviet and american sectors.
A 200m piece of the Berlin wall is left standing in an out-door museum called "Topography of Terror". It explains the history of Berlin between 1931 and 1945.
10,000 screaming faces in the Jewish Museum....
and the Holocaust memorial.
Inside the new "Gedaechniskirche" - very modern and cold from the outside but gorgeous from the inside!
The Berlin Cathedral with the TV tower in the back-ground.
The famous Brandenburg gate - not stuck between east and west any more but still fenced in (due to renovations).
Reichstag with the new glass dome. The waiting list to get in was 3 days!!
The main train station - very glassy and modern as well.
Looking towards museum island from the train station. A lot has changed since the wall came down!
The biggest bicycle shop I have ever seen!
But still, some people are obviously not riding often enough...
