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Bye-bye to Prague and a train to Dresden a 2½ hour journey.

Taxi to Rothenburger Hof my hotel in this city. Very nice place. Chocolate on the bed for a nice welcome.

I have bought myself some kind of package for this place, including a "Dresden-card" with free local public transport, free admission for some museums and a free Stadtrundfahrt on a double-decker. I start of with this tour, that gives a nice expression of Dresden and it's close surroundings.
 

The tour ends in the middle of Altstadt, where all the Dresden Monuments are placed. Some of them are pretty much run down - but they are working on this problem.

For instance they work on the castle Zwinger. It's a nice places with a lot of photo-opportunities with plenty of strange details.

From there to another old building called "Schloss". Here you also find a long painting on the wall calles "the prince's procession". It covers the whole length of the 102 m wall on the outside.
 

On to Frauenkirche that is also being restored. It was built in 1738 but bombed during WW2. The communist government declared it a war-memorial, so it couldn't be restored. Efter the german reunification the restoration started, and it's supposed to finish in 2006.

The bombings in the end of WW2 has put it's mark on Dresden. Huge parts of the town was destroyed, and ugle concrete-buildings was built in the 50's to substitute. It doesn't look nice in the center of a big city.

From Altstadt I take a tram to Neustadt, where my hotel is located. It's like a different world. Plenty of cafe's and ethnic restaurants. This is the alternative Germany. Hip-hop people wearing hip-hop clothes, strange shops and plenty of graffiti - some of it very nice. 

Saturday, april 9'th

A nice little tour for today.

First tram 41 to Kleinzschahwitz. From there a nice little walk to a small ferry crossing the River Elbe to Pillnitz

In Pillnitz you will find Schloss Pillnitz with a nice park around. The place used to be a summerresidens for Kings and Queens of Sachsen between 1765 and 1918. Very nice place.

From Pillnitz bus 83 to Körnerplatz. Here there's a cablecar to Louisenhof, where there's supposed to be a nice wiew of the river. But the view has been privatized - you have to go to a restaurant to see it - and I don't want to do that. Anyway it's foggy so there's not much of a view today.

Down again it starts to rain. Time for lunch, and there's a nice pizzaria. I get a nice pizza, and after finishing the meal there's a little competition. I have bo mention a number between 1 and 40 - and if I draw that number from a pot, the pizza is free. I say no. 1 - and draw no 1 - so free pizza today.

Sunday, april 10'th

A long walk today. First though a tram to Fetscherplatz. From here a walk in the neighourhood of Striesen, an area restored quite nicely after the reunification.

From Striesen to Grosser Garten, a huge park with a nice little castle in the middle. There's also a small zoo,  that I visit.

From the zoo through Blüherpark  to Altstadt. In Kulturpalast they sell second-hand CD's today. I take a look but doesn't buy.

From Altstadt I cross The Elbe via Augustusbrugge to Neustadt. More graffiti, more ethnic and a dönerkebab at every corner. Nice place to stroll around. There's even an old shop selling things from the old DDR - "Do you remember the taste" a sign on the window asks.

Then to Rothenburger Hof, a cup of coffee and a nice piece of their homemade cake.

In the evening a visit to one of the local restaurants - a thai-place, before heading back to the hotel and som german pop-music on the PSR radiostation.

Monday, april 11'th

Exit Dresden and a train from Dresden Hauptbahnhof at noon. This train goes all the way to Vejle, where I arrive at 8.30 pm. Nice ride - nothing much more to say about that.