Kieran gave us a talk this morning about the history of the area. Oh no! Not more stories about the Soviets, the Stasis, and all the bad stuff. Oh yes. I won’t ruin your day, but the story stays the same. Kieran did end on a happy note, with the film of Tom Browcha on the news live at the opening of  East Berlin on Nov 9th,1989. Keian says that he remembers where he was and what he was doing at the moment. I don’t remember much, because I was holding a little baby at the time, just three weeks old. Ahh…. Kieran is such a charming guy. He was having trouble speaking, said he had a frog in his throat. Then said he needed water because “the frog had just crossed his legs.

Then John and I took off for the Church of Our Lady to climb the tower, which we did! All the way to the top. Different weather today and great photos. Climbing 280 steps plus another 100 feet of upward ramp, plus more steps—completely lost track of the steps— was good preparation for the afternoon activity. We went to a place called “The Bastei,” which we thought was going to be a fortress and castle, but was more of a Grand Canyon plus Bryce Canyon, very deep drop-off with tors of rock remaining as castle-like structures. It was lovely, but a little too high for me. We climbed and climbed down down down then back up up up. A few of our group overdid just trying to get to the ice cream shop where it all began, and needed a ride back. Since there were no “rides back,” our wonderful guide, Sylvia, asked a tourist with a car to drive him back, which involved disassembling the dog crate that he had in his back seat—which was very nice of everyone. (I still think there was a nice tip involved.)

First, climbing to the top of Our Lady Church, inside the dome, all the way to the ocular. This was a speedy climb, though not easy. You can see the steps and ramps. After 280 steps came the gently sloping upwards ramp, then more stairs, then a steep spiral staircase, then up on top. No looking through the ocular, but great views all around. 

Doesn’t John look relaxed! Not me. Loved the climb, was hugging a pillar at the top. Notice the lovely strong wire mesh. That was what impressed me!

Then finally looking out at the view. What a poetic city, Dresden is. The round quilt-shaped building is the Treasury where we were yesterday. And off to the left, another “Riesenrad,” one of my German words that I thought I would never use. Turns out, this is the third Ferris wheel we’ve seen this trip. This one lights up in the middle. Amazing to think that this city was badly, badly damaged in WWII and completely rebuilt to look old. Nearly everything you see is just 60-70 years old, rebuilt by the nasty Soviets. (Think “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut. This was the place.)

Back down on the ground, we found this nice photo op. People with classic cars give rides for a price, but let us take pictures for free! The nicely stacked stone work to my left is a block of the church that they did not replace—there must be a missing piece somewhere— in order to memorialise the damage. 

And because we hadn’t done enough climbing today, we took the excursion to the Bastei Forest, a famous national park. The picture below shows the table rock with the river flowing beneath it— a long, long, way beneath it. This place reminded me of the Grand Canyon— lots of climbing and very scary views!

I did not go out to the end of this overhang, but took a very nice photo from right here. Still plenty scary. John said that concrete bounced like a diving board out there. Yikes!

There’s John looking so relaxed on this hundreds-of-years-old bridge (built in 1797) leading to a place where there had been a medieval castle that had to be taken down. Hard to imagine how they built any of this.

This is a great photo of the river far below, but a place that perhaps needs some of that sturdy wire mesh from the top of the church. John slipped while taking this photo but assured me that he was never in any danger.

With all that excitement, it’s time to rest up for tomorrow, our move to Prague! Good night.