Anya wanted to explore the city! I had no particular expectations of the city. I had been in Dresden many times before. I promised her that even a short excursion to Dresden is well worth your while.
Day 1 - 14th May (Evening walk)
Krakow to Dresden
So here Anuchka; taking nap. :D She is in a period where she is unaware of surroundings, including the passage of time. Her nap interval is lost to her cognition and awareness.
We reached home around 2:45 p.m and had lunch with my brother and Anusha. Slowly in late evening we started to walk. I and Anya was lucky enough that the sun broke through the clouds right as we walked into old Dresden, bathing its palaces and gardens in glorious sunlight, and highlighting the beauty of the city, which literally took my breath away. Water gave me calm and relax feeling.
This unique piece of artwork was created in Dresden in 1589. At first, it was made with the help of a very complicated technique,Sgraffito, but after 300 years, the Procession of the Dukes was on the verge of collapse. No, not from the bombing of Dresden; the dampness of Elbe River practically destroyed the masterwork. For many years, the panel was under restoration, but the works of the 19th century survived no longer than the original ones. At that time, someone proposed an ingenious solution−to transfer the picture to porcelain tiles.
In Meissen, the most famous porcelain factory in Europe, 23,921 tiles were made, and the new great piece of art appeared on the wall of Stallhof in 1907. What is especially interesting is that the Procession of the Dukes survived the awful bombing of Dresden at the end of World War II. Not one plate fell down.
Like all Wettin, our hero, Kurfürst August, was a protestant, but one day he resolved to be the king of Poland. Why Poland? Poland had an interesting tradition: anyone could offer himself as a candidate for the Polish throne. It was something like an auction, but with one condition: you must be Catholic. Augustus converted to Catholicism.
That was a great shock for the Lutherans of Saxony, but everything ended without public unrest. Soon, the people of Saxony felt all the benefits of having a Polish and a Saxon king in one individual. Augustus dreamed of having all the splendor of the Louvre and Versailles in Dresden, and the Polish treasury was most opportune.
2nd Day
Volkswagen Glass Factory
Source: Prasanth Sathiya
Source: Prasanth Sathiya
Altstadt Dresden (old town)
the glory of Dresden’s palaces shines through the scars of World War II bombing
After eating; we started to walk towards Neustadt. (New city). Dresden quickly becomes apparent as you walk out of Altstadt (old city) toward its Neustadt
This is the end of two us! Now I; Anya; Balaji and Anusha went to currywurst to eat :D
The end of 2nd day! :)
We ate and talked late into the night, watch movie.. and then it was time for bed because we had another big list of stuff to see the next day.
3rd Day - Königstein
It started in the early 13th century as a medieval castle belonging to the Bohemian kingdom. In the 1400s the castle fell into the hands of the Saxon rulers and was later transformed into a monastery. In the mid 1500s by the order of Augustus, Elector of Saxony, a deep well (152 m) was drilled through solid rock on the site creating an important condition for the construction of a fortress. The conversion of the castle into a fortress was done in 1589 by Elector Christian I, who continually improved the old armory and the fortress’s defense. Due to its strategic position no enemy ever attacked the fortress, making it a sure retreat for the Saxon rulers who often fled behind its thick walls during times of crisis.