Frankfurt, Brussels & Home

With my train not leaving until 2:30pm, I had the morning to see what Frankfurt has to offer. Sitting on the river Main, Frankfurt am Main (to distinguish it from Frankfurt an der Oder on the Polish border) is the economic powerhouse of Germany.  It's high-rise buildings have given it the nickname Main-Hattan.

The city was flattened during the WWII with the cathedral being the only large building that was left standing and that was just the outside walls. 

The reconstruction has produced a modern city of steel and glass with wide and busy roads but the old town square was rebuilt in traditional German style.

From Frankfurt's large station - one of Germany's biggest - I caught an ICE to Brussels and with 3 hours to kill in Brussels waiting for my connecting Eurostar, the Grand Place did not disappoint.

Brussels

Brussels

The Eurostar back to the UK was uneventful although I have to say the ride quality on the e320 is no where near as good as on the e300's. You won't have a clue what I'm on about but I had to say it anyway!

Now for three questions for you all to think about:

Firstly the one thing I really hate about Germany (and Switzerland) is the two single duvets on a double bed thing - all hotels in Germany seem to do it. Do Herr and Frau German not cuddle up under the duvet? For a single person who likes to wrap himself up in the duvet, cocoon style, it's really irritating.

Looking at the destination of this tram - do you think they have segregated public transport in Poland? Let me make it clear, I took a photo but did not go for a ride on the number 14!

They all love to forage in Poland and the Czech Republic. I saw loads of people getting off trains at wayside halts in the forest with wicker baskets and then getting back on the trains later in the day with those baskets full of wild mushrooms. Do you think these are poisonous given that they were still there?

Well that's it for this trip. The next one is 27th December to Ukraine - See you there.

GERMANY - To The Bastei

Today I find myself taking a day trip out from Beijing and heading up to the Great Wall ........ Well actually I'm heading south from Dresden, to the Saxon Switzerland National Park and its most famous and popular viewpoint the Bastei Bridge. But such is the volume of tourists, particularly Chinese ones, that I might as well be off to see the Great Wall.

To be fair, the Bastei Bridge was built solely as a tourist attraction to enable people to visit the sandstone rocks and admire the view of the Elbe valley. Also my guide book does say "Don't visit at weekends and plan to arrive before the coaches start arriving at 10am" So at 10:15 on the Sunday morning of a Bank Holiday Weekend I was hardly likely to have the place to myself was I? But the rain has gone and the sun is out.

I caught the train to Stadt Wehlen and then once again had to get a ferry across the River Elbe to Stadt Wehlen itself, which has typically Germanic architecture.

The walk up to the top of the cliffs here is longer but less steep than going from Kurort-Rathen, the next station down the line. Apart from myself I saw four other people on the trail up, but at the top there is a road so the coaches and cars arrived. But as with everywhere, the further from the car park you go the less the crowds.

The Bastei is a rock formation high up over looking the River Elbe and the Bastei Bridge was built across these rocks allowing 19th century tourists a chance to admire the views, which is what folk have been doing ever since. After wandering around, admiring the view, taking some photos and eating a wurst in a bun followed by an ice cream, I took the steeper and busier path down to Kurort-Rathen. Another ferry took be back across the river where I had another stroll, this time along the river to the next station down the line - Königstein - for my train back to Dresden.

I got an Inter City Express this evening to Frankfurt, a start to my journey home. Tomorrow morning, however, I have some time to have a quick look at what Frankfurt has to offer.

GERMANY - It's Dresden Day

The BBC Weather forecast said that for Dresden today there is a 100% chance of rain. That's why today I have spent the day in the city rather than out in the country. It's also suddenly got a bit cold. But don't worry blog readers I have been wandering around prior to today taking pictures so not everything you see is going to be grey skies and a sea of brollies.

Dresden was once a beautiful city known as the "Florence of the Elbe" but all that changed on the night of 13/14 February 1945 when the city was devastated by two RAF bombing raids. Almost immediately afterwards, there was debate on the point and purpose of these raids, leading Churchill - ever the politician - to distance himself from them. What you see today is a mix of communist brutalist architecture coupled with a major and impressive reconstruction of the historic core. A lot of that historical reconstruction took place after German reunification and therefore currently has a "just too perfect" look to it because it hasn't yet really weathered.

With that in mind lets first go to the Dresden Panometer. Believe it or not this is another of those panoramic paintings - who knew there were so many of these things in Europe? This time it's a modern one created by digital photography and housed in an old gas holder. It depicts Dresden in 1945 just after the bombing. Being modern it has sound and light effects and is certainly thought provoking. 

Now lets look at Dresden today. The must see sight is the Frauenkirche. The Lutheran church that is the symbol of the city. The raids started a fire inside eventually causing the whole structure to collapse. Throughout the communist years it just lay as a heap of rubble, reconstruction started in the early 1990's and was completed in 2005.  It is a tall building with a small "footprint" - unlike a traditional cathedral - seating its congregation in tiered levels. Consequently it has difficulty absorbing the crowds. I had to queue to get in.

 

 

There is a viewing gallery right up at the top of the dome. This is well worth the entrance fee and because of the recent reconstruction you go up over half way by lift, but again it gets busy. Go early when it opens at 10am.

The next church along is more traditional in shape but still ornate. This is Holy Trinity Roman Catholic cathedral.

Here is the Fürstenzug which is a large mural made from Meissen porcelain tiles depicting the Saxon rulers from the House of Wettin.

Then of course there is the famous Semperpopera - Dresden's opera house

There is a whole range of museums and galleries here and I have not been able to even touch the surface - partly because of the bank holiday which means everything is crowded but also because I have wanted to visit things like the national parks around the city. And then there is Meissen and its porcelain just half an hour up the road. Dresden is definitely a city I will come back to as there is still so much more to do and it is a relaxing place to be in.

Lastly I'm going to leave you with a picture of the main railway station - why? Because it's reconstruction was carried out by Sir Norman Foster's team at Foster & Partners.

GERMANY - Steam Train to a Castle

I have always thought the Germans do Steam Trains and Castles very well and today is a day to experience both.

Just a quarter of an hour from the centre of Dresden on a local train and you reach Radebeul Ost, starting point for the Lossnitzgrundbahn Steam Train to Radeburg. About half way along the line (and where half the trains turn round) is a stop called Moritzburg home to a large castle.

Schloss Moritzburg was the royal hunting lodge of Augustus the Strong who was a member of the House of Wettin, erstwhile rulers of Saxony - Augustus also managed to end up being King of Poland. something he had to convert to catholicism for.

The castle is in a beautiful setting on an island in the middle of a lake at the end of the town's main street. Inside though I thought it was a bit dark and dreary, the wall coverings were all painted leather - I don't normally "do" tapestries and the effect was much the same. Anyway it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon and I had the thrill of the return steam journey to look forward to after.

Meanwhile Back in the Czech Republic

I hope after reading yesterday's post from Dresden - Germany, you didn't spend all your Czech money because today we are back in the Czech Republic.  Don't worry I will be blogging from Dresden again later in the week, if you want to see more of it.

The reason for all this border jumping is that today Thursday 3 October is the German Reunification Public Holiday and because it is on a Thursday this year most Germans will also take Friday off meaning a 4 day holiday weekend. I therefore had to rush up to the VW factory before production stopped for the holiday - I couldn't see much point going round a car plant if they weren't making any cars!

Just south of Dresden is a cross-border national park, the German half is called the Saxon Switzerland National Park and not to be outdone on the other side is Czech Switzerland. It's a hilly region that is still part of the Sudety range, still sandstone and therefore like Adrspach, has those weathered rocks.

So today I joined the throngs at Dresden's main station for a train to Schöna, the last stop in Germany on the line back to Prague. From Schöna station you then have to get a ferry for the trip over the River Elbe to Hrensko on the Czech side - it doesn't take very long only a couple of minutes.

Hrensko, is not very nice, but don't be put off. Like most border settlements the cheaper side is there solely to service the needs of the richer side. In this case, Hrensko is full of shops and stalls selling cheap booze, cigarettes and labelled goods to the Germans.

A short walk up the road though takes you away from this to the beautiful Kamenice Gorge. Here the River Kamenice cuts it's way through the sandstone rocks to the Elbe and there is a hiking trail running most of the way along it.

I say most of the way, there are a couple of sections where the gorge walls are too sheer to have a path and for those you have to take a punt with a National Park Guide.

At the head of the gorge you can take another trail upwards and back over the hills to Hrensko via Parvcicka Brana - a natural stone arch.

All in all, a must do day trip from Dresden that enables you to take in another country (if you weren't planning to go any further south). Whilst I was using up left over Czech currency, such is the number of German day trippers that everywhere in this area also takes Euro and not at a rip off rate either.

GERMANY - Das Auto

So what do you do in Dresden on a wet Wednesday afternoon? 

Visit the Transparent Factory of course!

Volkswagen  have a small assembly facility quite close to the city centre in Dresden where they produce the e-Golf. The building is predominately glass and therefore has the name of The Transparent Factory. 

Within the building there is a visitor centre and for €7 you can go on a guided tour (in English) of the assembly line. The whole thing is a PR activity aimed at getting people to think more about electric vehicles and ask questions but I spent a very nice couple of hours there. You see the robots (and a surprising number of humans) putting the cars together. they tell you a bit about how they develop new models and also a bit about what they are developing currently - autonomous vehicles etc. And yes it is possible to buy and collect a new car direct from the factory.

Unfortunately but fairly obviously they do not allow photography of the assembly line.

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Now changing the subject completely

There is a thing here in the former East Germany called "Ostalgie" Basically it is a nostalgia for the old days of communism - look at the way the Ampelmann on the pedestrian crossings is now an icon (he's here in Dresden).

Well walking along the main street here, an Englishman could well get Shopalgie - a nostalgia for the days when our high streets were bustling and all the shops were occupied. I haven't seen many empty shops at all on this trip which reinforces my view that this is a mainly British problem and cannot be solely blamed on the internet.

Anyway remember these .........

And sit down for this one ..........

Yes Woolies lives on in Germany. It's the same as it used to be in the UK but without the Pick n Mix!

CZECH REPUBLIC - Nothing Better Than a Drop of Tepid Water

Step 1 - Buy your cup.

This one is actually very restrained, believe me there is some real tourist tat available here.

Step 2 - Go to a fountain and fill your cup

I started with a 30 degree one

Step 3 - Gently slip the water by sucking it through the handle of your cup which has a hole through it like a straw.

Step 4 - Stroll around the town, sipping your water and breathing in the fresh morning air.

Step 5 - Refill your cup when empty, from a different fountain at a different temperature.


Next one for me 53 degrees

Step 6 - Repeat until you find the temperature of water that best suits your constitution,

I have to admit that the 30 degree one was actually quite pleasant with the next being OK, however, after that things went downhill quite fast. At 62 degrees the water is quite disgusting and at 72 degrees in my opinion undrinkable.

The 72 degree fountain

After you have spent the morning sipping and wandering, the afternoon can be spent in one of the many Sanotoria where they can spray you in it, soak you in it and I reckon if necessary embalm you with it. If you fancy a spot of Colon Hydrotherapy then Karlovy Vary is the place for you.

As for me, my colon is very content thank you, so I took the funicular up the hill behind the town for a spot of lunch and a look at the view from the observation tower.

If all this has whetted your appetite for a visit to Karlovy Vary then I should really recommend coming in April when the town hosts the annual "Aristocrats Ball" A social gathering for nobles from all over Europe, it's the biggest event in the town's calendar.

In the meantime I must go now, it's time for my evening dose of 30 degrees and a short stroll around town.