Dresden May 26 to May 29

May 26

A 2-hour train ride from Prague to Dresden.  We check into the new Swisshotel.  Very nice, but rooms have a strange set up with the bathroom essentially part of the room.  There is a very large indoor shopping center nearby.  We bought another computer at the Saturn electronics store.  Saturn seems larger than any Best Buy and offers a huge variety.  We bought an HP Pavilion.  Over the next couple of days we spend the usual hours getting set up.  Victor's tips are very helpful.

We dine at a Thai restaurant.  Nice change.  Excellent duck.


May 27.

Dresden, once one of the most beautiful German cities, largely survived WWII intact until February 1944, when the allies bombed it to shards. Around 25,000 were killed.  Large swathes of downtown Dresden remained vacant during the Communist period. Beginning in the 1990s, the historic center buildings were restored and the surrounding neighborhoods rebuilt with modern buildings. There is some unavoidable sadness to this place.

A large parcel of land to the south of the old center is being built on now.  The archaeologists have been called in to evaluate the site.

The development will be called "Judenhof," the area's pre-Nazi name.

We visited the Zwinger. We spent most of the time at the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, the old masters gallery.  It has this iconic Vermeer:

Bruce took a quick turn around the porcelain collection. We both looked at the old scientific items.

We celebrated Leslie's birthday at Eidelweiss with roesti potatoes Zurich style with veal and mushrooms in a cream sauce and venison and potato dumplings in a cranberry sauce with salsify. Very good.

Wednesday May 28

Today, we spent a lot of time a getting to know the computer and getting out the blog backlogs.

We visited the Schloss.  A so-so exhibit on Dionysos Greek and modern, ottoman stuff, armory.  Then the famous Green Vault - a collection of all the gaudy precious stuff that monarchs collect.

Sandwich lunch. Dinner at Dresden 1900 Museumsgastronomie.  Just from the name, we had to try it.  There was an old trolley car inside and the wait staff wore conductor's caps.  Pork and gravy over bread.