Dresden

This past Saturday JM and I went to Dresden. Plans to go to Neuschwanstein were put on hold because it turns out it's a lot farther away than we originally thought (4-5 hours) which kind of puts it out of the "day trip" category. That is still on our list however, it'll just have to wait until we take an overnight trip.

At first I was bummed about not going to see Neuschwanstein but Dresden was absolutely gorgeous. Easily one of my favorite cities I've ever seen. Up there with Prague and Dublin. Here are some pictures (also, I want to apologize for the fact that no matter how hard I try I cannot get my pictures to go where I want them to go in this blog. They just format themselves wherever they damn well please. Oh well.)

(Haus am Zwinger, from the courtyard)

(Haus am Zwinger, from the top walkway)

(The Catholic Church (L) and the Residenceschloss (R))

The only mistake in our plans was we inadvertantly chose to visit on the first day of their Christkindlmarkt. "Busy" is an understatement and finding parking was a whole 'nother thing. But we prevailed and were walking around by noontime. It was such a beautiful city. The first thing we saw was the Haus am Zwinger. It is HUGE with tons of gold leaf (like that tower) and statues everywhere. It'd be cool to see in the summer when the fountains in the courtyard are actually on. Then we toured the Opera House (bad choice, admittedly, my choice) -- the tour was in German. The only thing I got out of the whole 45 minutes (looong tour) was that they talked about art a lot. It was a beautiful building but I would've been happier to simply wander it myself. From the Opera House we grabbed some wurst at a stand at the Christkindlmarkt and then set off to explore the other sites. The church pictured up there on the left was cavernous (and like the one in Regensburg, cold inside) and beautiful. The main room opens up all the way to the top and is filled with stained glass. This is a city I'd definitely like to visit again, mainly because the Frauenkirche (another church) has this amazing observation tower but we couldn't go into it because the church was holding a concert. I did get a picture though:

(Frauenkirche)

Doesn't it look cool?! Damn that concert.

This weekend JM and I are just staying home, doing whatever. I realized today that both JM and I have been here for a little over a month now. Hard to believe that a whole year without him has passed but I am so glad it has. December will be a very wonderful month for many reasons: household goods arriving, one year anniversary, seeing family. =) So many things to look forward to! I can't wait!