The Last Week in Dresden

So, for an update on my last days in Dresden…a long list of what I did and saw:

Climbed to the die Frauenkirche’s dome.

Alte Meister Galerie (Old Master’s Gallery)
Here I saw Raffael’s Sistine Madonna among hundreds of other paintings.  I still haven’t figured out why the most famous paintings are famous.  Why is the Mona Lisa so much more famous than Giuseppe’s work?  Or Wenzel Lorenz Reiner?  Or Johann Georg de Hamilton?  Good thing nobody asked me!

Galerie Neue Meister (New Master’s Gallery in the Albertinum)
LOTS of paintings from the past 200 years.

Skulpturensammlung (Scupture Collection in the Albertinum)
Some very strange modern sculptures, such as a very large pile of 3-ring binders, boards, foam, metal things that looked like smashed up bed springs (you get the idea)…all stacked very squarely in a cube.

Städtische Galerie Dresden – Kunstsammlungen (Municipal Gallery and Art Collection)
Art ranging from the 16^th Century to the present contemporary art.

Rüstkammer (Prince’s Armoury Collection)
Wish I’d have had this as a resource for my History of Christianity Crusade Horse project!!!  Described as “one of the world’s most outstanding collections of parade arms, armour and costumes” from the 16^th-18^th Centuries including various weapons (lots of cool knives and swords), various suits of armor for both knight and steed, and jousting equipment.

Festung Dresden (Fortress Museum)
You’d never know by looking at the Brühl Terrace that it sits upon the remains of the royal residence of Saxony!  Inside, one can see the last remaining city gate and the oldest stone bridge of the city.  There are also some pretty neat stone spiral staircases, guard rooms, battlements, military chambers…

Early Friday morning, I left my little apartment in Dresden and headed for Neuendettelsau.  It took a little over 6 hours by train with 3 changes.  My train into Nürnberg was 15 minutes late, giving me 2 minutes before the next one was to leave.  There I was, once again hauling my 98473475839 pounds of Trödel (junk) up and down the steps trying to get to my next train in time.  I am forever thankful for the lady who stopped to help me up the last set of steps!

Pax.