Day 84: Dresden to Meissen

July 5, 2022

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In the relative cool of morning and with renewed strength from a good night's sleep, we felt like a final look at the monumental buildings that comprise Dresden's altstadt. This time we did not concentrate on the Frauenkirche or even the Cathedral so much, but went first for an extra peek at the Zwinger. The Zwinger is an extension to the various palaces and buildings, started in 1709 as a sort of Orangerie on steroids, with lots of sculpture and architecture going on. It's a big rectangular enclosure, with very fancy walls, to say the least.

We started around the 'backside", where the wall features a giant crown gate, known as the Kronentor.

Around the front, we could see that the whole courtyard interior is under construction. We stopped at the entrance to the construction scene, and I left my bike and Dodie to go look at a plaque, that is shown a couple of photos down. In the 30 seconds elapsed to do this, the white van appeared and started honking and honking, while Dodie was saying "Hey, just give me a chance to shift these two bikes". The driver then could pass by - swearing. I returned and we cycled off, but in a few seconds I thought I ought to photograph the plaque, so I cycled back and go off my bike in the same spot, which was now free of any white vans. In the 15 seconds needed to make the snapshot, a security guy appeared at some distance and started shouting the German equivalent of "clear that bike out of here".

We were thinking that these rude folks are earning their living working on a museum. A museum is by definition for the public and the tourist. You would think that could earn the public or the tourist a little courtesy. Ha!

Ah yes, the plaque that brought the grief. It's one of two that detail the Zwinger history, starting with 1709. But what caught my eye was the entry for May 8, 1945. It says that on that date the "Soviet army liberated the City of Dresden from fascist tyranny". And it continues for 1946-64 to say that the Zwinger was restored under the power of workers and peasants.

We cycled around, looking again at the large, age and pollution blackened buildings, and just generally gawking:

We eventually came to the building that earlier we had called the Ministry of Culture building, but is more properly identified as a concert hall. There is a large mural on one side which attracted our attention. Made in 1969, it's to us a classic example of socialist heroic art. The title is the Liberation of the Working Class, and an inscription at the top says "The liberation of the working class can only be the work of the working class itself. Our program will live. Despite all this, we are the victors of history!"

Looking then down the street, we had a further artistic/architecture view, which was this one, to us a most beautiful image (except for the truck and pedestrian):

The Zwinger plaque, the Communist mural, the spire of the Cathedral put us to thinking. The most beautiful art and architecture came as a result of an extreme disparity of wealth, with ancient kings and bishops going crazy with elaborate works, while the conditions of the general population were abysmal. Then we have the art of the communist world, sort of inspiring, but limited, regimented, and ultimately boring. And we have the plaque written in stone on the Zwinger, in which one government is branded a "fascist tyranny" but the workers and peasants in concert with the Red Army work to restore the art works of an even older tyranny.

This intersection between politics/religion and art/architecture pervades everything we see in the historic city centres, cathedrals, and rathauses but we usually don't focus on that, just standing back to appreciate it all. However here in Dresden, with that restored/fire bombed Frauenkirche also standing in the background, it all seems much more front and centre.

Hey, all these hevy thoughts make us hungry. How about these two different versions of mohn kuchen!

Back to geopolitics for a moment, we just thought we'd mention that 90% of restaurants in Dresden are Italian. Why?

With our heads filled with architecture, we had almost left town when we came upon what appeared to be a mosque. But in fact it was the Yenidze former cigarette factory! Here is a bit of the wiki on it:

"Today, the name Yenidze stands for a unique piece of oriental architecture found in the core of Dresden. In 1909, the manufacturer Hugo Zietz had it built in the style of a mosque to use it as a tobacco factory and named it after the tobacco-growing region, which had been located in the former Ottoman Empire. This has earned the Yenidze its nickname “tobacco mosque”. The impressive building, with its glazed dome and chimney masked as a minaret, inevitably stands out from the otherwise Baroque architecture found in Dresden’s historic old town, which is only a foot walk away from the Yenidze. The former factory is used as an office facility and offers numerous Dresden-based companies and organisations a prestigious headquarters. Under the roof of the monumental dome, it houses a restaurant serving traditional Saxon and international cuisine and regularly hosts events such as fairy tale readings."

As if this were not enough, we next encountered a windmill. This had been an actual grain grinding mill, but fell into disuse. Now it anchors a beer garden. We naturally stopped at the windmill, but just to look, not for beer, an fielded some UQs about our DaBrims from two couples who had also stopped. We noticed that they all had panniers from a tour/bike rental company in Magdeburg and learned their story. The company rented the bikes out in Dresden, and our couples were doing daisy petal day trips out from there. Today Meissen was their goal. Because they kept stopping for photos or picnicking, their progress toward Meissen was just as slow as ours. Consequently our paths kept crossing and there was a lot of pleasure in just greeting each other. Cycle touring can foster very pleasant relationships, both fleeting and permanent.

The former windmill, built in 1832 and operated until 1914.

The cycle trip from Dresden to Meissen is dead easy, with the path flat and paved, running by the river. Near to Meissen we could see a number of wine chateaus, and later learned that there is a small but active wine industry here.

The town of Meissen is built around a hill, known as the Bergburg. On this hill is a very iconic Gothic cathedral, plus "Albrechtsburg", a palace of the Saxony rulers for the past 1000 years. The classical postcard shot of Meissen looks like this:

The shot conceals the complexity of the streets, including those on the flat by the river, and those leading up the hill, plus the warren of buildings that occupy the hill. We also soon learned that the world famous Meissen pottery works used to be housed in the castle, but had been moved down onto the flats. So in terms of general points of interest, we have the factory, the market square and other streets below the hill, and the attractions on top of the hill.

Our hotel is near the market square, and like other such hotels we have found, is in a building that is over 200 years old. This one, the Golden Lion, is in a building from 1730!

We arrived hours before the hotel reception would be open for the day, so we set off first to find the factory and then to see what was up the hill.

We passed through the lower town and got some idea of what it was all like. At first I felt it was quite small and simple, but with the hill and the streets leading up and around it, it all became much more complex and interesting.

Here are some shots from the lower town.

The street leading out to the factory is a little plainer than those around the market square:

When we got to the factory we had a little drama, similar to one that happened to us at the hotel in Munich. The instant we arrived, a lady seemed to leap from the entrance to tell us to clear off our bikes, because there was no bike parking there. I told her, a bit aggressively, that I was not "parking" but only "standing", and that Dodie would be coming in to gather information while I waited. This effectively repelled her, and Dodie went in. I had been "standing" only a few seconds when another couple rolled up. Bang, the lady was out again, to tell them to clear off. But the story was the same, the wife in the couple just wanted to go in to see what tours or whatever were available, while the husband was with me, posted with the bikes. Because the new couple was German, the discussion with the lady was slightly longer, but the result was the same. So then for 15 minutes the husband and I had a grand time, talking bikes, until the women returned.

The lady from the factory reception was sort of like a yard dog, yapping at all arriving bicycles. Probably she could be replaced by a sign and some bike racks!

Once we knew where the factory was and what they offered, we were set for a visit there tomorrow. So we set off up the hill, to Albrechtsburg Castle and the Cathedral.

Climbing through picturesque streets with increasing views.

The castle is right beside the cathedral. It is very extensive. Though this is the main entrance, it is essentially the back of the building.

A crazy "sculpture" in the cathedral courtyard.

There was a ticket combo for the palace and the church, 13 euros I think. We went into the palace first, and as usual the first question is where are the toilets. My second question is about what type or size of men they expect to be using the facilities, because look at their direction sign.

The Albrechtsburg castle as a strange kind of story. It was built between 1471 and 1524 by rulers of Saxony, and it was architecturally stunning, with vaulted ceilings and an elegant spiral staircase. Then from 1710 it got devoted to the production of the famous Meissen pottery. The pottery took over almost the whole building, turning it into a grimy factory and damaging the structure by modification and vibration. The pottery production continued for 153 years, until 1863. Following that there was a restoration effort, and notably there was the painting of a large number of frescoes, depicting if not the exact lives and adventures of the former ruling residents, then at least a late 19th century imagining of those lives. What resulted was a fairy tale castle painted effect, sort of like Neuschwanstein. The paintings and the earlier great archtecture, I found, made a delightful place.

For our visit today, we also enjoyed what must be a great example of the museum maker's craft, with high tech, well done displays, and an excellent film. Over the three floors, we naturally emerged exhausted and unable to absorb any more information.

Have a look at how beautiful the place was, and I'll add a little info to captions.

This depicts some kind of victory over attacking Poles. Mostly fictional.

This chapel was reminiscent of the Sainte Chapel in Paris. InsideI spied a restorer at work.

From the second floor porcelain display. We'll see more at the factory tomorrow

A model of the complex, done by a hobbyist in 1938

You can see how dowdy unrestored section are

The final floor is devoted to the actual construction of the building - showing tools and techniques.

This demo traces a block of stone through to being a section of stone arch. Amazing!

I did not understand the following "diamond arch" stuff at all!

We barely escaped the castle with any strength left at all, and we had yet to visit the cathedral. So I insisted on some life giving eis. We went in to the Domkellar restaurant for this. It is right beside the Dom and the castle, with a view of the town below, and darn, it also had a history to tell!

The place has been there since 1470. At first it was only allowed to serve beer to clerics. But when rules changed, business took off. It was especially good in 1760, apparently, when Frederich the Great was in residence. His staff hung out here a lot.

Though we came for eis, the kellar had a full menu. These guys were eating pigs knuckles. I saw them as the kind of loud male diners that had plagued us with noise at hotels. These ones were actually not too bad.

With the gothic cathedral, we had a relatively plain but tall and dramatic building. Normally I am sent in to churches while Dodie is with the bikes. I snap a few shots and soon leave to rejoin Dodie. But for this one we were both inside, making for more extensive searching out of stuff that the guide book or web site says is inside.

I climbed to a high chapel and photo'd Dodie in a pew below.

This was a centrepiece brass tomb of ... someone

Tough looking little lions? at the foot of the tomb.

We were "dismayed' to find that the cathedral too had a large museum. We had no strength left for it. We took one photo of a vestment, and escaped!

The river below, from a window at the cathedral.

No, not another darn museum (exactly) but the stairs to our hotel room!

We went out and found a restaurant - turned out to be Italian, of course. Here were some of the first broccoli we have seen in Germany!

What gave Meaning to Life today? Broccoli (in pepper sauce!)

Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 4,671 km (2,901 miles)

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