Dresden

7^th January

Off to Dresden where we are booked into the Radisson in Old Town – great position and beautiful hotel.  We walk over to the Opera House but as the queue is quite long we decide to visit the Art Gallery instead – home to all the Old Masters – Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Holbein, Van Eyck and of course, Raphael’s ‘Sistine Madonna’ – breathtaking.

The girls decide to go back to the hotel as there are English language movies, so Gordy and I make our way to the Zwinger – an amazing building crammed full of antiquities and exquisite art pieces that would take a week to get through.  We only end up with enough time to visit the porcelain collection, which of course is what the name Dresden is synonymous with (Dresden doll) Meissen, where the porcelain comes from is actually about 20 kms away.  The collection was started by ‘August the Strong; and continued by his son ‘August II’. 

We detour via the Altmarkt on the way home – a bit like a giant Indooroopilly!

Gordy and I have dinner in the hotel restaurant, which is sublime and next day, after an equally sumptuous breakfast, catch the 10.03 to Berlin.