Dresden - 4

On our second to last day we went to Frieburg to see the temple. (There is also a Frieburg in the south that is bigger, not to be confused with this one)  When we got on the train we walked past 12 missionaries.  I was very excited to see them and stopped to see where they were from.  All from the states, mostly Utah.

Once we got to Frieburg we had a 3 km walk to the temple.  We had thought about taking a bus, but there were no clear signs about which one to take.  It was a lovely day and we enjoyed the walk.  Frieburg had a small town feel to it.  It is still fairly big, but quiet streets, we only passed a few people, but little houses.  We came across a park area where Cora and I needed the water closet, and then the kids played for a bit.

We then continued on our way.

Another beautiful temple.  Off to one side of the temple sits the church building and at the back is a Temple Hotel.  How cool is that.  If you are travelling a long distance you can stay.  Brilliant!

I was trying to be creative and get some artistic shots, which I am not good at.  Cora said she felt like she was posing for her wedding photo.

I loved the idea of this one.  If the sun would have been behind me, I feel it would have been awesome.  I had to kneel right down in the grass to get this.  My knees were a little damp, but worth it. 

After walking around and then sitting and chatting we hiked back to the train station and back to Dresden.  We found a street vendor selling doner.  We got two to try in case we didn't like them and ended up buying three more.  Again such good bread, sauces were delicious, fresh cabbage and nice spicy sliced meat.

It was then time to see the Glass Factory.  I had been excited about this one.  I love watching how they make glass.  When we arrived, I was amazed how big it was.  I mentioned to Dave that I was glad there was a glass making factory in Dresden we could see.  He said, 'What?  What are you talking about?'  I explained how going to this Glass Factory was going to be fun and I had been looking forward to it.  He started laughing.  Apparently it is a building made  OF glass, not making glass.  It is were they make Volkswagen.  You get to see the assembly lines and watch them make the cars.  Also neat, but funny I didn't realize what he was talking about.  When we got there, outside were some guards.  They told us that there was a convention or something going on, so no tours that day or the next.  Too bad it was our last two days.  Guess we should have checked it out earlier.

We went back to the square.  We bought our souvenirs.  Saw this odd 6 person bike.

And got our last gelato.

Wandered back to our hotel for evening bread and bed.  Our final day we got to take the steam boat tour down the Elbe.  

I know I keep saying it but it really was beautiful countryside.  These vineyards run right up the side of the hills.  Cora thought that if they need a staircase to garden it was to steep.  We saw many of these and people working in them.

We passed under a few bridges.  This one is called The Blue Wonder.  It was the only bridge that did not fall in the bombing of WWII.

Little villages

We stopped at the Summer Palace to tour around.

There was really no place to eat and Blake was starving.  It was a good thing I had an apple, some buns, a few peanuts and some gummy bears still in by backpack.  We didn't realized it would be so long until we ate.  The Summer Palace was a museum.  It was the strangest museum we had ever seen.  No really rhyme or reason to it.  In one part was bikes and world bike records.

Another would have dining rooms all set with 15th century place settings and decor.  Next would be statues.

Cora saw this bust and said that it was exactly how she feels her hair looks.  So I made her take a picture.

We saw 70's style bedrooms and TVs.  Some glass and pottery.  I loved the ancient kitchens.  We saw the meat room, the ice room.  They had about 4 kitchens, one was for making bread..

..one for pastries.  This one seemed to be the main kitchen, it was huge.  Along one of the pillars was marked up the side, some up into the white part of how high the flood was in certain years.  Last time it flooded was 2002.

It was all fascinating but really strange set up.  We meet the steamboat and went back.  For dinner we had one last doner for us all and went back to the hotel.  We got packed up, the kids showered and caught up on journals.  We had one last swiss chocolate bar to share and early to bed.