Exotic east europe tour

We arrived in DRESDEN. It is the capital city of SAXONY.It is situated on the river ELBE near the CZECH BORDER.It is called the JEWEL BOX because of its cultural and artistic splendors.It was destroyed by ALLIED BOMBERS during the SECOND WORLD WAR TWO.Then the entire city was rebuilt.It was called FLORENCE OF THE ELBE''

 

We drove past the main streets of DRESDEN and got down at FRAVENKRICHE CHURCH OF OUR LADY.It was built in the 11 th century,as it became a small structure when the city was growing ,a new church was built in the year 1772.GEORGE BAHR designed 95 m baroque church with a stone dome of 23.5m in diameter.The dome was the stone bell which was finished in the year 1738.It survived the 13th FEBRUARY but on the 15th it collapsed.It was not rebuilt but 45 years later after the IRON CURTAIN fell the construction was revived and was built again in the year 1993 with the help of the city of DRESDEN and CHURCH OF SAXONY.Donatuons of 4,7 m steeple cross was given BRITS.It became the symbol of GERMANY.
Pieces of the old dome was recovered by KARL PINKERT.

 

Then we moved on to see the ZWINGER PALACE built in the year 1709 in baroque style by MATTHAUS DANIEL POPPELMANN under the leadership of AUGUSTUS strong the city ruler.It is built of sandstone.The crown gate has gods from the GREEK mythology .There is NYMPHAEUM which is a baroque style fountain.There are many museums inside this palace such as the armory museum,porcelain museum where they the largest collection,SEMPER gallery which houses may paintings,SISTINE MADONNA BY RAPHAEL by the most famous.

 

Then we saw the DRESDEN academy of arts ITS DOME resembles a CITRUS JUICER.It was also destroyed during WORLD WAR TWO and was renovated in 1991.On top of it was the statue of PHEME the GREEK GODDESS OF SPIRIT ,HUMOR AND GOSSIP.
Then we moved to see a large mural of a mounted procession of the rulers of SAXONY,originally painted between 1871 and 1876,to mark the 800 anniversary of WETTIN dynasty.It was replaced with 23,000 MEISSIN porcelain tiles in 1904.It is 102 meters long.It is the largest porcelain structure in the world.It has kings,dukes portraits .We see a close up of 2 saxon leaders of AUGUST TWO and AUGUST THREE.
DRESDEN OPERA HOUSE was a lovely piece.Next was the GREEN VAULT a historic museum which has 9 rooms and a chamber hall.Amber room houses amber treasures,second room has ivory,third silver,fourth relics,5th treasures,seventh coat of arms,8th 80 bronzes,9th has renaissance bronzes.Then we went on see the house where AUGUST the strong stayed.It seems he fathered 365 children!!!!!!!
Then there are old stables with courtyards,which is now a transport museum. MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS MARKET
place where annual XMAS markets are held,church of the cross,buildings built during the communist regime are all worth a visit.Finally we came to the place gifted by AUGUST TWO to his mistress.Now it is an official building and BARACK OBAMA stayed here during his official visit.

 

A small story which would interest you,AUGUST STRONG was a womanizer.There was a beautiful lady called CONSTANTIA VAN BROCKDROFF ,she was married to a SAXON inspector,but when she cameto DRESDEN she was attracted towards AUGUST STRONG.There was bridge connecting the residential palace TASCHENBERG palace.They used to meet to near the bridge which was only secret passage for them to meet.When he was attracted towards other woman,she refused to give back his agreement and fled elsewhere.Later she was bought back to this palace and she was imprisoned for 49 years and she died there.Once a lover,later on was charged for treason.
His lips were swollen because his constant kissing,that is even depicted in the paintings....

 

After the tour of DRESDEN ,we were given free time to go around the city center.We moved around looking at the quaint little souvenir shops,and cafes and walking on cobble stone stone streets.That after we moved to have lunch ,it was very difficult to get good Veg lunch anywhere here,finally managed to go into restaurant ,explained and got a veg pizza,to our dismay it had nothing but eggplants and mushrooms,which I hate.So that afternoon our meal was MOVENPICK CHOCOLATE ICECREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!To compensate we had a yummy dinner at BERLIN the last stop of our tour.Our drive to the hotel where we stayed was lovely.It was close to lake and many of us took a lovely long savoring the beauty of the place....TOMORROW it is city tour of BERLIN,THE CAPITAL OF GERMANY...........

 

It was a sad experience to see this

 

We headed on to see POTSDAM a city which is 36 minutes drive from BERLIN.It is the capital city of BRADENBURG.It is situated on the river HAVEL.It was the residence of PRUSSIAN KINGS.It has many UNESCO heritage sites.Many sites have been rebuilt after they were destroyed because of the SECOND WORLD WAR bombings.It has 20 universities.
We took a tour by bus past 2 STREET DUTCH quarters which has 150 houses built of red bricks in DUTCH style.These houses were used to house DUTCH artisans during the period of KING FREDRICK MILHELINA FIRST.The next were the 12 wooden houses unique style built for the RUSSIANS.Then we saw the recent CASTLE SCHOLASS CECILIENHOF located in NEUR garden .Later on it was the place where CHURCHILL AND HITLER had a conference.
Then we came to the old market square.Got down and walked past the NICHOLAS CHURCH built in the year 1837.KARL FRIEDRICH SCHIAKEL designed the building.Then on the eastern side you can see the OLD CITY HALL built by JAN BOUMAN a DUTCH architect ,it has a circular tower which is crowned with a gilded ATLAS figure.North of the old market square is the oval FRENCH CHURCH erected for the HUGUENOTS.
Then we were given some free time for ourselves.So we roamed around to find a lovely open market in the square selling fruits,vegetables fresh from the farm,clothes,and local food products.It was so sight to be in on lovely morning.Then we walked down the roads to take a peek at the shops.

 

After which we drove down to SANSSOUCI PALACE.It was built by GEORG WENZESLAUS VAN KNOBELSDORFF in the year 1744 under the regime of FREDRICK THE GREAT.The meaning is ''WITHOUT ANY FEAR''.It was the summer residence of the king.He wanted the palace to be a palace of fun and enjoyment.It has 11 rooms all rich its interior.It was built in the ROCOCO style which is style of carefree and light heartedness.It had a terrace vineyard and 700 acre park around it which had statutes and fountains.It is a supposed to be a GERMAN RIVAL OF VERSAILLES but smaller.FREDRICK wanted to grow figs,plums.So the palace overlooked a terraced garden.A new palace and picture gallery was added later on.The fountains in the center worked only after 100 years.The biggest fountain GROBE FONTANE is 18 metres tall.NEW PALAIS built near it houses 200 rooms,then there is servant quarters and Chinese style tea house built in the year 1756 houses porcelain .
There is a historic windmill also nearby built in the DUTCH style.PALACE\S name is written with come with gilded bronze letters.Garden front of the palace is decorated by ATLAS and CARYATEDS STATUES ,both the sexes represented and WINE GOD BACCHUS.For many years this palace was unoccupied after the death of FREDRICK.Later it was revived in the baroque style.During the world wars it was damaged and was revived.
Fredrick the GREAT has his tomb here.