We've just returned from our last evening stroll through the streets of Dresden's old town and we're already feeling sad knowing we'll most likely never walk them again, such is our affection for this place. To be honest, everywhere we've left we've felt saddened to leave. I guess that means we've had a great time in each of our stops. It's off to Berlin tomorrow, which means a little over a week to go before we touch down in Melbourne. Still, there's much to see and do.
Today we took the bus and tram to the very extremes of the city, into the countryside. Our objective was to visit a place called Pilnitz Palace and gardens, built with a baroque and chinoiserie influence. It was outside the 5 km radius from the old town where the allied bombs fell, so much of it remains as it was from the 17th century. The Palace was suitably grand, and the gardens extensive although not as well kept as some we've seen (the grass grows so quickly here I guess mowing is a constant chore). The Palace is also a museum, and it was fascinating to see the way life was for both the German aristocracy and their servants, over the past few centuries.
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| Pilnitz Palace |
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| Another wing of the Palace |
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| The Palace has lovely gardens with a beautiful fountain |
We were both particularly interested by the extensive kitchens in the Palace, which had to prepared meals for around seventy people each day, using an array of wood burning ovens which could boil, roast, and grill the various meats delivered from the surrounding farms. They also prepared desserts, soups, breads and pastries. What an enterprise. The main dining room was so large we actually mistook it for a ballroom at first.
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| One of many kitchens in the Palace |
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| The dining room |
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| Yours truly downing half a litre of German beer at midday. Well, it's hard work doing nothing. |
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