Germany 9: Dresden, a city with beautiful architecture

  Halfway through the one hour drive to Dresden, I stopped at Castle Weesenstein.  I paid a small fee, hoping that this would allow me access to the gardens.  I crossed a bridge into the courtyard.  I used a barcode reader with the card that the cashier gave me, which prompted the door to open automatically.  I walked through the museum.  There wasn't much to see, though I did catch a description that Hitler had chosen the castle as a location to create an art museum with art that had been stolen, mostly from the Jews.

  The exit of the museum brought me right back to where I had begun.  I crossed the bridge again and was able to discover the path to the garden.  The view of the castle was magnificent.  I enjoyed watching the insects.

  Dresden was originally not on my radar.  I ended up choosing it as a location specifically because it was near to one of my chosen locations and had a highly rated social hostel.  I've never stayed in a proper hostel, and I thought that this would be the perfect time to inject a social experience.  Unfortunately, with reports coming in that covid is spreading aggressively again, and has been sweeping through hostels, I cancelled my reservation and booked a hotel instead.  I did look into alternative locations but it turned out that Dresden itself seemed to have a lot to offer.  The hostel was about a thirty minute commute outside of the center of town.  The hotel that I chose had a much more ideal location.

  My hotel was adjacent to Frauenkirche Dresden.  I walked on over and went inside.  It was extraordinary.

  I walked to the Furstenzug mural and beyond, until I reached the Zwinger courtyard complex, which was very heavily under construction.

  On the middle day of the trip, I took the day off.  On the last day, I decided to buy a museum day pass, pass.  The only one that was not covered by this was The Green Vault.  You need to arrive at a specified time.  I made my appointment for 1:00 PM.  I began the day going across the bridge and visited the Museum of Saxon Folk Art with Puppet Theater Collection.  It was just two small rooms.  I was not impressed.

  The next stop was the Zwinger complex.  First was the Old Masters Picture Gallery.  I liked it.

  Next door is the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, which featured some neat measurement devices in a handful of rooms.  

  The third point in the Zwinger triangle is Porzellansammlung, a porcelain museum that was better than expected.  I liked the white porcelain especially.

Across the street was Dresden Castle, which housed several more museums, including the Green Vault.  My Vault appointment was a bit later, so I went around the three other floors of museums.

  Security is high around the Green Vault.  No photography is allowed, and you enter via a chamber that operates a bit like an airlock.  You wait for the previous party to depart, it reseals the doors, and then opens them on your side.  The pieces inside were surprisingly more impressive than anything else I had seen in the day.

  While I was leaving, I entered the second inside courtyard, which while pretty, was also fenced off for parking.

  Near my hotel is the Albertinum gallery, which I had decided would be my final stop of the day.  Upon entering, I sat down for some coffee at the cafe.  Since every other coffee shop gave small coffee cups, I decided to order two coffees.  Instead of small, they were delivered in humongous mugs.  I was in a predicament.  I could either look like the foolish foreigner and leave a whole bunch of unfinished coffee, leaving the waitress to wonder about the nutty guy from abroad, or drink as much as I could.  I chose the latter.

  Afterwards, I admitted to myself that I was completely burnt out on museums and decided to skip this final museum.  I went to the supermarket, and on the way back, I saw a large line to a Harry Potter concert that was set up in the square near my hotel.