Europe Trip Day 13: Dresden, Germany

We headed out of Prague Thursday morning, March 27 to go to Berlin. We decided to spend time in Dresden on the way. We were all feeling a bit tired of walking around cities all day, and Nate's leg was bothering him, so we decided to change things up and take a boat tour down the Elbe River of Dresden. After arriving in Dresden, we had some time to spare before our tour left, so we walked around the old town area. Dresden has a picturesque skyline with a number of interesting buildings. Much of the area was destroyed and/or damaged during WWII and then rebuilt or otherwise restored. It was a UNESCO World Heritage Site until recently when a new bridge was built across the Elbe River. UNESCO decided that this ruined the landscape, although I personally don't see what all the fuss was about. It seems that the bridge was probably needed in the area given how long it still took us to get across any bridge due to heavy traffic.

The Semper Opera House

Looking out to the Theaterplaz from the Zwinger

Hofkirche on the left

Hofkirche

The Procession of Princes (Fürstenzug in German)

Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady)

Our boat tour turned out to be quite nice. We sat on the top of the boat with good views of everything, and the narration was clear and easy to understand. We were really glad that is wasn't like our Venice boat tour!

Austin on the boat

Lingner Palace

We learned that the Linger Place got its name from Karl August Lingner, the inventor of the world's first mouthwash, which is still sold today. He invented the mouthwash in 1892 and called it Odol. It was made mixing essential oils with an antiseptic. He grew wealthy enough from his inventions, particularly mouthwash, that he later opened the German Hygiene-Museum and bought the palace.

Eckberg Palace

Karl August Lingner was not the only man into mouth and dentistry products to own a palace along the river. Dr. Ottomar Heinsius von Mayenburg, who manufactured the first machine-made toothpaste, bought the Eckberg Palace in 1926. His toothpaste was sold in a metal tube.

Albrechtsberg Palace

The Blue Wonder

Our boat ride took us just past the Blue Wonder, a bridge that at the time of its completion in 1893 was one of the longest to not be supported by pillars. It got its name because it was painted a vibrant blue.

Augustus Bridge - oldest standing Dresden bridge - built around 1910

Royal Art Academy

After finishing our boat tour, we continued on to Berlin for the night. We arrived later than we had hoped due to bad traffic, but it wasn't too bad. Our hotel in Berlin was another matter though. It was the worst of all the places we stayed at. It was another relatively unmarked hotel found up a flight of stairs in the middle of an apartment building. There was no reception desk, no kitchenette (one was mentioned in the listing for the hotel), and worst of all no heat in our cold room. There were definitely no extras of any kind there, including no garbage cans in the bathrooms. The place only had two shared bathrooms, only one of which had a shower, for roughly 15 rooms. Luckily, the place wasn't very full while we were there. It certainly wasn't what we were expecting. Luckily in the end, we were given a discount for not having any heat in our room.