No WiFi on Monday, so catching up later.
On Monday, I took the train from Dresden to Meissen – the home of porcelain. And you can’t miss that fact.
It’s a lovely wee town, all nooks and crannies and winding alleys. The big draw in town is the factory, but I ran short of time and I decided I had seen enough porcelain. It was a bit far out to walk, and I was worried I would blow my rent money on a milk jug or saucer or something! As it turns out, I could have – but that’s a story for the next entry ...
I walked up to the castle, which turned out to be an excellent choice. It overlooks the town, and, strangely, it used to be the porcelain factory! The ruler of the time – Albrecht, maybe, but I’ve forgotten – saw that there was money to be made in porcelain, as it was the cool thing for the dinner tables of the rich, and was being imported at huge expense from East Asia. He got his people to work out how to make it, and the castle became a 18thC factory manufacturing dinner services and decorative objects. I know all this because there was an exhibition explaining it all, though I have forgotten most of the facts, and don’t have WiFi access to check Wikipedia
The other good thing about the castle was the preserved (or restored?) medieval banqueting halls, with lots of excellent frescoes and statues, and handy examples of Minnesang painted in the alcoves. I would provide a translation, of course, but that would deprive Clare, Carol, Eilean and Jane of hours of fun. Oder?
Came back for one last bit of Kuchen in Dresden before heading back to try to fit all my junk into my case.