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Day 2 - Meissen
Description: After waking up in Leipzig that morning, we quickly packed, continental breakfasted, checked out, boarded a small bus, and headed on the 45 minute jaunt to Meissen.
What the Leipzig hotel offered in individual comforts in the room, the Meissen hotel offered in beauty of the site. The hotel is directly across the river from the city of Meissen, has exquisitly landscaped grounds and an unbelievable view of the old town fortifications. As I fell asleep that evening, I was able to gaze on the illuminated towers of the castle and the archbishop's palace. This had to be the best view from a hotel room that I have ever been lucky enough to have.
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This building typifies the experience of driving through former East Germany. One is surrounded by the same feelings of antiquity, tempered with neglect. This building stands directly across the street from the hotel.
At this point, have just stepped off of the bus and snapped the first photo that would be easily framed. I was too close to the hotel building to fit it into frame, so I snapped the rather pretty building across the street, framed by the entry gate to the hotel parking lot.
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Finally, I had an opportunity to run out to the gate (see previous picture,) turn around, and snap a picture of the hotel. Um, wow! Meissen, famed for their porcelain production, provided the tiles used to decorate the facade of this hotel. I know I'm supposed to be taking medication to moderate my facade facination, but look at the tiles!
The building in the center houses the restaurant, main desk and some meeting rooms. Most of the guest rooms are in the building to the left, connected by the covered walkway. If you look over the top of the building containing the guest rooms, you will see the top of the cathedral spires and part of the Albrechtsburg, prominent features of the skyline of Meissen across the river, visible from the park in back, as well as my room.
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Same darn picture, slightly different view. You'll notice the small bus in front of the main entrance. That is the bus we used over the course of our weeklong trip. We had the same driver the whole time, a wonderful fellow who helped pass the travelling time by telling us stories of life in the GDR, under Soviet control, informers in the Stasi, really amazing stuff.
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Once one passes through the covered walkway into the gap between the main building and the guestrooms, one sees the park that sits between the hotel and the river. The patio to the right is an extension off the back of the main building leading to the restaurant. One can eat on the porch, enjoying the fountain, river, scenery, sun.
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Standing on the steps leading up to the balcony and turning back towards the river, one can appreciate the peaceful dining experience available to guests to the hotel.
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Same darn park, different view. Now I'm looking over the fountain, back towards the main building and restaurant. Exquisite, no?
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My first view of the imposing skyline of Meissen.
I basically turned around from the previous photo and moved a few feet in order to change the framing of the leaves. The fence railing protects hotel guests from a two meter drop down to the riverside bike trail. The overhanging trees provided welcome shade from the bright summer sun.
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Walking forward to the railing, I was able to take my first unobstructed picture of the Meissen skyline.
The leftmost tower and adjoining palace are a part of the archbishop's palace. The two middle spires and the scaffolded spire are part of the cathedral, and the orange roofed white building on the right is the Albrechtsburg, which has the dubious honor of being the oldest castle never to be occupied as a residence. Because of its secure location, it had been used as a factory, munitions depot, and stable, but never a home. The builder died, and his sons split his territory and built their own castles.
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Look to the left...
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The first in a series of shots used to stitch together to make a panorama. Click the UP A LEVEL link at the top of the page to get to the finished panorama.
The individual shots used to make the panorama are larger than most of the other shots available from this site.
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Panorama sub-shot #2
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Panorama sub-shot #3
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Panorama sub-shot #4
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I zoomed in to get a little better detail of the Meissen skyline.
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Exploring the grounds of the hotel, you can see that spring has recently sprung, and all the flowers are happily blooming. I hope you will pardon my composition somewhat as hayfever was impeding my ability to think clearly.
This shot looks back away from the river towards the building neighboring the guest rooms.
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I've swung all the way around the main building and am back in the parking lot, and am peeking around the right side of the building back towards the park. This path actually leads towards the kitchens.
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We had a chunk of time before lunch, so several of us decided to take walks through the neighborhood. I set off by myself, as I hadn't had the opportunity to really get to know anybody yet. I took a relatively quick loop around the neighborhood surrounding the hotel, taking in a few relatively residential areas, and a bit of a hill. The living arrangements varied from the apartment block/row houses here, to single and two family residences. Meissen is a comparitively wealthy town, and a lot of federal money has been spent to fix up tourist areas in the previously east bloc areas. A lot of facades (those again) had been restored, as on this block of apartments. In less affluent communities, the decay of infrastructure under socialist control was prevalent.
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It looks pretty flat, huh? Well this picture, taken upon my return to the Pannoia Parkhotel Meissen, after trying to hurry back in time for the lunch, which turned out to be a rather disappointing batch of hors d'ouvres. Big hill. Gasp. Pant. Hot. Must not sweat. Too late.
Anyway, the vantage point for this shot has me looking back at the spot where I took the first Meissen picture (see top of this list.) As you can see, the parking lot is surrounded by a wall which offers a little privacy to the site.
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After returning from my mid-day jaunt, I went up to my room in an attempt to cool down a little before lunch. I took a few pictures from the two windows of my third floor room. This picture looks back into the courtyard garden, towards the restaurant. The pictures at the end of this page do the best justice as to the views available from my room.
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This picture shows exactly how lucky I was. I took this picture sitting on my bed, looking out the window/door across the river at the stunning Meissen skyline. I was the last of the group to get a room assignment, and most everybody else had a room facing the inner courtyard on the second floor. One of the women had the corner room beneath mine, but her end facing windo was blocked by a tree, so she didn't get the magnificent view available to me.
I decided at this point, that I would do whatever was necessary to get a night photo of the city of Meissen. See results below.
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After lunch, we climbed into the bus where we were wisked off to the foot of the hill that comprises the old city of Meissen. Right inside the gates, one sees a thriving marketplace of vendors selling all sorts of fired clay, of the practical and artistic nature. I found a bratwurst stand, while others in the group found the ice cream stand. After fifteen minutes of whetting our shopping whistles, we started up the long and winding alley through the city, towards the citadel at the center.
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Although this space acts as a marketplace, the official marketplace for the town is one level up the hill from here. You can see how much this looks like any other tourist destination in the west. So much has been spent to restore the city to pre-socialist condition (and better).
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Again with the facades. I can't help myself.
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It was an extremely warm, bright day, and the crowds were out in force, shopping with zeal. It may not be obvious from these photos, but we were smack dab in the middle of fresh asparagus season. One could find whole carts covered in white asparagus, which was still tender from being grown in the absence of light. That last factoid could be totally wrong. Anyone with info for or against that supposition can e-mail me at the link at the bottom of the page.
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As we head up the hill, we are about to enter the main town square, where the official market took place. One can notice that it was quite crowded here in the lower town, but either the streets got wider, or people decided not to hike to the top, so it was easier to make one's way after getting to the market square.
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Here in the square, there was no market presence, but the square had been converted into some sort of rally put on by the SPD (Social Democrat Party). None of these pictures show the funk band or the inflatable moon walk ride for the kiddies, but the sounds of James Brown and happy children filled the square.
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We were given all sorts of interesting facts about the town hall (shown here,) but the only one I remember is, "The roof of this building is taller than the first three floors." Quite an accomplishment at that time.
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Picture listing provided by Plog/Phlog v. 0.11
Copyright ©2001, Robert Rohr.
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