Königslutter
Königslutter is a cute town near Braunschweig. We found it by chance, when we were looking for a place to stay the night. It had free campervan facilities and parking spots. We went for a walk through the town, saw the big cathedral, walked along a track to the spring of the river Lutter and strolled through the grounds of a psychiatric hospital, which were beautifully landscaped. Yana was spending most of the time sleeping in her backpack. In the evening Lindsay and I went out for a glass of wine to a café down the road (in reach of our babyphone).
Walking to the SpringNear Magdeburg
We stopped off for a day in a tiny place near Magdeburg. We went for a bike ride along the Elbe River and discovered the longest canal bridge in the world. Here the Mittellandkanal (a canal) is directed over the Elbe River. After Yana played on the Elbe Beach for a little while, she got tired and I looked after her, while Lindsay biked into Magdeburg.
A bridge for water over a river... strange but true
Berlin
We stayed two nights in Berlin’s suburb Köpenick. On the first day we walked into the old town of Köpenick and looked at its Rathaus (council building) and Schloss (mansion). On the second day we took the train into the central city and did a sightseeing tour. We walked along the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin wall, which is now called the East Side Gallery. Artists from all over the world have painted graffiti on the Eastern side of the wall, something that was only tolerated in the West during GDR times. We visited Alexanderplatz and Potzdamer Platz (two squares), the Sony Centre, a Stasi-exhibition and the Brandenburger Tor. We wanted to climb onto the cupola of the Reichstag (parliament building), but it was raining at this stage and we didn’t want to join the queue that was standing in the rain.
The wall - strange to think that the madness of the wall really took place!
Compulsory photoLübbenau
We only stopped off for a short time in the gherkin capital of Lübbenau, which is in the Spreewald (Spree forest), south of Berlin. We did a little micro-bike-ride, because Yana doesn’t particularly like her bike seat. The town was very pretty, but it was very touristy and it had a couple of very particular park wardens. Despite making three parking spots unusable, they (two of them, separately) told us to park in the middle of our parking spot rather than across two.
Dresden
Dresden was the place I had mostly looked forward to visiting. We arrived around 5pm and parked directly by the Elbe River, with a great view of the major sights on the other side. We had a picnic on the bank of the river. Later I went for a run along the river and when Yana was in bed, Lindsay and I went to the beer garden next door. It was a great spot.
The next day we did a sightseeing tour, which included the Hofkirche (church), Semper Oper (opera building), Residenz and Zwinger from the outside and the newly rebuilt Frauenkirche (church) from the inside. We drove to the suburb of Loschwitz, where we stayed the night.
The next day I had the morning to myself, while Lindsay looked after Yana. I biked over the “Blue wonder" (painted green, but turned blue by itself) bridge and along the Elbe back to the central city of Dresden. I saw lots of nice old villas and three huge mansions along the way. I went to the Neustadt (new town), which is not actually very new. I bought something to eat in the Markthalle, which is an old market hall that has been rebuilt into a mall, I checked my emails and then I went to the Kunsthofpassage. The Kunsthofpassage is a network of alleyways and themed courtyards with little art shops and cafes.
Kunsthofpassage
A little picnic
The Zwinger courtyard - all the art galleries are in the surrounding buildings - which Lindsay was happy to avoid...
The rebuilt Frauenkirche (Church of our lady)
Yana telling Lindsay which places she wanted to visitSächsische Schweiz
South of Dresden there is an area called Sächsische Schweiz, with impressive sandstone rock formations and good tramping tracks. We stayed in a small town called Gohrisch for a couple of nights and did a day tramp to the fortress of Königstein, which is set up high on a rock plateau. The next day we did another short walk and afterwards Lindsay biked 30km along the Elbe into Dresden.
The third night we spent on a carpark by the famous Bastei rock formation. In the morning we took turns biking to it and having a look around. Lindsay went quite early and was almost by himself. When I went, the hordes of tourists had already arrived. It was still very much worth it though. The rocks tower 300m above the Elbe river and provide awesome views into the valley. The lookout for the famous bridge was along a pretty muddy track, which Lindsay and I didn’t shy away from using, like a lot of the tourists in their sparkling clean sneakers.
The famous Bastei outlook
Now we are on our way to Thüringen and then on to my parents’ place to celebrate Yanas first birthday.
