(Tuesday, Sept. 8, Dresden) Since our travel to Berlin, our next stop after Dresden, would only take a little over two hours by train, we schedule our departure for three in the afternoon, leaving us with another full morning to tour Dresden. On Sunday afternoon and all day Monday, the area around Frauenkirche had been teaming with tourist. But today, when we left our apartment about 8:45 a.m., there were only a few people, mostly locals getting ready for the business day to start, milling about the platz. After a quick breakfast at the konditorei, we returned to the apartment, packed our bags, left them with the concierge, and went off to do more sightseeing.
Now it was nearly 11:00 am, and Genghis Khan and His Golden Horde of Tourists had once again invaded the platz. But we managed to quickly gain entrance to the Frauenkirche, and sit in peace while other visitors milled about. Unlike many large churches and cathedrals in Europe, this church is not built in the traditional cross-like pattern. In fact, except for the altar, the entire space within the church sits beneath its lofty dome. And unlike most churches that have straight as an arrow pews on either side of a main aisle, the pews in Frauenkirche are curved to match the pattern of the dome above.
After spending a delightful half hour or so just sitting in the pews, we lit a candle in remembrance of those who died here in the Allied bombing of 1945, and headed off to the Zwinger Palace. Although the Zwinger has a large art collection, we decided to spend the first sunny day of our trip outside, strolling around the promenade that runs along the upper walls surrounding the palace’s courtyard.
We enjoyed a relaxing al fresco lunch at a restaurant across the street from the Zwinger, then strolled over to the foot of the Augustus Bridge across the Elbe River, and followed the embankment back to Munzgasse and our apartment to retrieve our bags and head to the train station and on to Berlin.
