A glorious day in Dresden

We drove from Berlin to Dresden, which we learnt is the capital and the second largest city in the free state of Saxony in Germany.
It has quite a history, one of the most notorious past events being the horrific bombing near the end of world war 2 which destroyed the old Baroque town and led to some 25,000 horrible deaths (most were burnt or crushed). Nasty stuff.
Since then, the old town has been completely rebuilt using many of the old, often charred materials along with new. Today the city is vibrant and gorgeous and buzzing with continued construction, tourism, locals on bikes, trams, shops, and gorgeous autumn trees everywhere. We only had a morning to explore but with a sunny day and camera in hand, it was magic.

Especially for Bernie

Pretty colours in a mall

I sort of worked out that this is an archaeological dig of old cellars and basements of medieval times.

The river Elbe

The Dresden Frauenkirche 

Centuries of history and magnificence of old masters of Baroque Architecture; and Barry is more interested in the scaffolding!

This was typical all through the city. When the wind blew, yellow and golden leaves rained down. I tried to capture this but the shots didn't work. Very pretty.

So there are two dominating facts about Barry and myself on holiday...
1. New place + Camera + sunny day = Very happy Toni
2. Rental Car + Autobahn = Very happy Barry

A glorious golden day in Berlin

Berlin is a completely different city to what I imagine it was like not very long ago. Today you get a real sense of 'celebration of life' and freedom to 'be' along with sobering reminders of how vehimently they don't want life to be like ever again. And they don't beat about the bush. You don't see memorials to 'the victims of war' but rather to the "ermordeten Juden", along with brass plaques outside every house of every person who was taken and 'ermordeten'.
We visited the Reichstag, and the Brandenburger Tor, the Tiergarten, and the Berliner Dom Cathedral, then finally the amazing DDR Museum. Even though life was so tough, oppressive, and controlled, I love how they resisted en mass like watching Western TV even though it was illegal and swimming nude just because it wasn't allowed.
We had a beautiful day and the Autumn colours were glorious!

Lunch - Currywurst and fries. Very yum!

Selfie outside the Reichstag

For you Bernie. We will have to get one when you come over!

The Bauhaus cafe

Delicious

Barry makes a new friend

The inspiring Bauhaus in all its modernistic glory

Our hotel

New art in the making

The TV tower in a bright blue sky framed by Autumn leaves

Outside the DDR museum

Inside the DDR museum

View from the Leibknechtbrucke

The Berliner Dom Cathedral

A mix of old and new

Autumn colours

In the Tiergarten looking back at the Brandenburger Tor

The Brandenburger Tor

The Tiergarten

Das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas - Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

I couldn't see the sign for these but they seemed like maybe they were representative of people in East Berlin during the Cold war. Maybe.

A section of the wall, with love locks. Ironic.

Impressive buildings 

I thought these looked very Utopian

Stunning colours in the morning light at the local U station

This one gave us the giggles.

Funky courtyard

A few days in the sun before a sojourn to Germany

The weather here in Autumn consists of crisp, sunny days with very cool winds and mild but very wet days with the odd bleak very cold grey day in between.

On the sunny days we usually try and get out for a walk or a ride. It's neat to see the Autumn colours slowly turning the trees from green to golden hues, but nothing I've seen so far compares to this snap my penfriend, Tiina took on her walk the other day. Stunning...

Autumn colours in Finland

Next week it is Autumn break and everyone is going somewhere so we are hiring a car and doing a bit of a road trip through Germany. But in the meantime, here are a few scenes from little old Horsens.

And boom. Wet nasty stuff.