Dresden - Report 1

Sunday, May 18

On Sunday, we took a cab into town and went to the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in the Zwinger Palace -- it has a wonderful collection of Ruebens, Vermeers, and other old masters, including the Sistine Madonna by Rafael. Mary Ellen wanted to go to the Albertinum, which had contained the modern art collection, but we found it was closed for two years for repairs.

She also wanted to go to the Frauenkirche, ("Church of Our Lady") (right) a high Baroque Lutheran church (which had been destroyed in the war and rebuilt), but it was closed for a concert. So we went to the concert, which consisted of organ music by Bach, an oratorio by Mozart, a symphony by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and another organ piece. It was actually a religious program with the sermon, but it was over in an hour.

The hotel restaurant was closed Sunday night, so we wandered around and found a nice restaurant a few blocks away. We sat in a glassed-in porch because it was pretty cold and gray outside.