At the Christmas Market in Dresden this week.

Remember our older post about Dresden's Christmas Market? It is the oldest and is celebrating its 580th year this time! It's on till the 24th of December, but there are some special events along the way for visitors.

On Friday, the 12th is the Night of the Stars or also called Stars of the Night. On this day the shops will stay open till 11 pm and sell their goods at special prices. Be there! Not bought your stollen yet? Here is your chance.

On Saturday the 13th is the Dresden Pyramid Festival, and the Pyramid here refers to the giant wooden candle pyramid in the middle of the Striezel-, or Christmas Market. This is an oversized model of little wooden pyramids that are actually candle holders, and can be purchased in the market.
Although called pyramids they look rather like wooden fir trees. This is because they are a tapering carousel with many levels and have wooden figures, mostly angels or other christian motifs, at each level. This entire conical shape is topped off by a propeller that spins when the warm smoke from the candles rises.
It has been suggested that this pyramid is the predecessor of the Christmas tree.

The worlds largest such wooden 'pyramid' is in Dresden's Striezelmarket and is 14.5 meteres high. On the night of The Dresden Pyramid Festival the figures and the scenes at the six levels come to life. Should be magical, a fairy tale come to life!

Dresden and Dresden Walks: Open to the world

Dresden is for everyone! This is the motto of the march that will take place in Dresden on Monday the 8th December.

The people of Dresden believe, and would like to show to the world, that they accept and welcome people from all walks of life, from all countries, of all religions, all ages, color and sexual orientation. And in order to state this loud and clear they will march to take a stand against PEGIDA.

Dresden Walks is an international team and we will be ceratinly taking part in the march. In case you are in Dresden and this is an issue close to your heart, you could do so as well. The beginning is at 4:30 pm from the Neustadt Train Station and will end in the city centre. 

The Dresdner Stollenfest

Today was the Dresden 'Stollenfest', a great festival with a lively procession through the city centre featuring a Stollen- the christmas cake particular to and only original from the Dresden region. The stollen that is paraded in the festival is not a regular one however. Last year it weighed more than 4000 kilos!

The stollen is taken through the city in a horse drawn carriage accompanied by master bakers and a beautiful Stollen Maiden, unveiled to the public with great pomp and finally cut up into 500 gram squares at the 'Striezelmarkt' Christmas Market. These are then sold for a good cause. The ceremonial sword used to cut the cake up is 1.6 meters long and weighs 12 Kilos. I am sure it needs some practice to wield this sweet sword!

Last year the festival had more than a 150 000 visitors. It seemed to me that we had more this time than last year. We certainly hope you were one of them. And if not, be here next year and walk with us after the procession! Here are some photographs from our walk this morning.

Waiting to start the walk with Heike at our meeting point 

Katharina sets off with her group

DRESDEN UNDER THE BANNER OF CHRISTMAS

DRESDEN UNDER THE BANNER OF CHRISTMAS – DRESDEN WALKS WELCOMES YOU TO TOURS IN THE BLAZE OF CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Even before the first Advent, Dresden is transformed into a proper Christmas landscape from the main train station in the south to the New Town on the other side of the Elbe river – and in the middle is one of the oldest Christmas markets in Germany, the Striezelmarkt. This year it takes place for the 580th time.
Its name derives from the pastry that is inseparably connected in Saxony to Christmas: the Christmas stollen, also called Striezel, an elongated yeast pastry. It was consumed at the end of the Middle Ages during the pre-Christmas Lent. In the spirit of renunciation the church forbade to bake the stollen with butter and milk. In response to petitions of two Saxon princes, Ernst and Albrecht from the House of Wettin, the Pope issued in 1491 the “butter letter” that allowed the Saxon bakers to use richer ingredients. The Striezel was now also introduced to the Dresden Christmas market, in 1500 it was sold there for the first time – and certainly contributed to the famous reputation of the market.

The Striezelmarkt, drawing every year up to 2.5 million visitors from around the world, still celebrates today the art of Stollen baking – with a Stollen parade and festival. Everything revolves around a giant stollen, which is baked by several Dresden bakers and driven through the city before it is sold to the visitors of the Striezelmarkt for charitable purposes.

In addition to the large Striezelmarkt with over 200 merchants and artisans, grand fir and giant pyramid – several more Christmas markets attract guests with a unique atmosphere: such as the Medieval Christmas spectacle in the Royal Stables with candlelight, the Christmas market on the Hauptstraße with international specialties, the Romantic Christmas Market Anno 1900 on the Neumarkt, the Christmas market at the Church of Our Lady. Also the Loschwitz Christmas market near the Blue Wonder Bridge is a traditional highlight of the pre-Christmas bustle.

Dresden Walks also puts you in the mood for Christmas during our daily Walking tours- with numerous entertaining information about Christmas customs and traditions in Dresden and Saxony – and a small surprise treat at the end.

What is in that little green box? Walk with us to find out!

Contributed by Iris & Katharina

SARRASANI ” PUR ” – THE NEW DINNER SHOW IN THE TROCADERO SARRASANI DINNER VARIETY THEATRE ON WIENER PLATZ SQUARE

Magic, mystique and artistry, gourmet meals and white tigers, the new dinner show of Sarrasani Trocadero offers it all from November 20, 2014 to February 8, 2015.

Also this year magician Andre Sarrasani remains true to his hometown of Dresden. Over 300,000 people attended over the past ten years the Sarrasani dinner shows, which are a delight during the advent season and are therefore already become a Dresden institution.

All the regular visitors, who saw the show every year at the Strasburger Platz Square, must now get used to a new location this current season, because the Trocadero dinner Variétheater moved to Wiener Platz Square next to the main train station.

The highlight of this season are three white tiger cubs belonging to Sarrasani family since recently. André Sarrasani and fine international artists and performers take the audience into the exciting world of circus’ and variety shows. Between the individual performances, guests can enjoy a four-course gourmet menu created by celebrity chef Mirko Reeh.

For families and brunch enthusiasts, also takes place on 1st and 2nd Day of Christmas a morning brunch with a unique show and buffet. Tickets are available on:

Sarrasani-Sales Office on Wiener Platz Square,
Hotline (0700) 727 727 264 (0,14 Euro/Min.)
www.sarrasani.de

Contributed by Katharina

DRESDEN UNDER THE BANNER OF CHRISTMAS – DRESDENWALKS WELCOMES YOU TO TOURS IN THE BLAZE OF CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Even before the first Advent, Dresden is transformed into a proper Christmas landscape from the main train station in the south to the New Town on the other side of the Elbe river – and in the middle is one of the oldest Christmas markets in Germany, the Striezelmarkt. This year it takes place for the 580th time.
Its name derives from the pastry that is inseparably connected in Saxony to Christmas: the Christmas stollen, also called Striezel, an elongated yeast pastry. It was consumed at the end of the Middle Ages during the pre-Christmas Lent. In the spirit of renunciation the church forbade to bake the stollen with butter and milk. In response to petitions of two Saxon princes, Ernst and Albrecht from the House of Wettin, the Pope issued in 1491 the “butter letter” that allowed the Saxon bakers to use richer ingredients. The Striezel was now also introduced to the Dresden Christmas market, in 1500 it was sold there for the first time – and certainly contributed to the famous reputation of the market.

The Striezelmarkt, drawing every year up to 2.5 million visitors from around the world, still celebrates today the art of Stollen baking – with a Stollen parade and festival. Everything revolves around a giant stollen, which is baked by several Dresden bakers and driven through the city before it is sold to the visitors of the Striezelmarkt for charitable purposes.

In addition to the large Striezelmarkt with over 200 merchants and artisans, grand fir and giant pyramid – several more Christmas markets attract guests with a unique atmosphere: such as the Medieval Christmas spectacle in the Royal Stables with candlelight, the Christmas market on the Hauptstraße with international specialties, the Romantic Christmas Market Anno 1900 on the Neumarkt, the Christmas market at the Church of Our Lady. Also the Loschwitz Christmas market near the Blue Wonder Bridge is a traditional highlight of the pre-Christmas bustle.

Dresden Walks also puts you in the mood for Christmas during our daily Walking tours- with numerous entertaining information about Christmas customs and traditions in Dresden and Saxony – and a small surprise treat at the end.

Contributed by: Iris & Katharina

Archeology in Dresden

In September, as Seema already reported in an earlier blog, was the Day of the Open Landmark. And like Seema, I too visited the archeological digs in the center of the city. I too found them fascinating and learned a bunch of new information that I integrated immediately into my tours. I was saddened a bit though, by the tour, because I learned something rather disheartening, something that I actually already knew before because I had been seeing it happening before my very eyes, but had chosen to ignore the facts. By the time the reconstruction of the Neumarkt area of Dresden is complete, the historic center of Dresden will have almost no more remnants of its past under its feet. Looks like throughout the city center, the grounds are being archeologically examined, documented and then, except for very small portions (less than 10%), demolished.

As a preservationist by training, this news tugged at my heartstrings. I expressed my consternation to the archeologist giving the tours and was told that this was necessary to rebuild the center of the city, because the walls in the pits are all structurally compromised and cannot support the least bit of load, and besides they need the space for parking garages. Now, this sent me off into a tizzy in my mind about parking garages that I  won’t get into here (maybe later), but I did manage to keep the wherewithal to ask what kind of criteria are used to decide what to keep and what to demolish. Apparently, if something is deemed truly unique, it stays. Several government agencies and the owner of the property all have to agree and accept the construction restrictions that this entails. Not an easy task.

Anyway, he showed us a very interesting foundation that was deemed unique and is in fact going to stay. Apparently, the archeological digs in that area have exposed mostly the foundation walls of the residential buildings. In one place though, the walls were quite different. Although above ground, the buildings all were similar (post-baroque residential), underground an older foundation for a larger (for that time) building was found. Research found that there had been plans to build a new Rathaus (town hall) on that site, but the plans were never carried through. This dig revealed, however, that partial construction may have been started for the foundations parts only.

The other interesting finding was remnants of the original medieval city wall. They happened to be situated in a location where the new buildings were not going to go up, so luckily, they just documented the wall and reburied it.

But the most interesting thing I thought was in fact a finding that was much more modern. The bombing on February 13-14, 1945 is of course a subject that I as a tour guide have to cover extensively and is one that I get many questions about. One big mystery for tourists is the question of why Dresden still has its treasures and its archives. I explain that people in the city government were already convinced in 1942 that the city was eventually going to be hit. All the artwork, archives, etc. were moved out of the city at that time.

Meanwhile I had also heard, mostly from older people who were in Dresden at that time that they were all living under the illusion that Dresden would be spared. In fact, not until the last few years when rationing was a part of everyday life, did they really feel the effects of the war (unless they were Jewish, of course). Albeit they were children at that time, and may have been sheltered from fears of bombing by their parents, but a certain amount of denial may have been present among the adults too.

And here, in 2014, in an archeological pit in the center of the city, the archeologist shows us tunnels lined with 20^th century brick that connected all the basements together, so that if a building got bombed and the inhabitants were trapped in the bomb shelter-basement downstairs, they had access to the neighboring building and could get out. Wouldn’t you think if the city came to you during WWII and built these passageways, that you might be a bit concerned? It conflicted with what I had been told.

The WWII history of Dresden has not been fully examined. It can’t have been because it wasn’t that long ago in a historical sense. People are still examining the records and coming up with newer interpretations. Once these tunnels are demolished, the remains of evidence contrary to what many people believe is gone. And this, for me, is the problem with demolishing historical and archeological records – you often don’t know what is going to become important in the future until it’s too late.

That means if you are visiting Dresden, definitely take a peek at the digs around the Neumarkt! Take pictures! Read the signs (they’re in English in some places). And remember the next time you come back, they will be gone and all we will have are your photos!!

Contributed by Karen Reimann

Hope Gala Dresden 2014

On the 25th October, for the ninth time in a row, Dresden will host the Hope Gala, a benefit concert for AIDS.

9. HOPE-Gala Dresden
Saturday,  25th. Oktober 2014
Entry: 18:00 hrs / Begin: 19 Hrs
in the Staatschauspiel Dresden / Schauspielhaus
With a After-Show-Party

The Programm will be an exciting medly of various shows. Some of the performers are:

Reverend Dwight Robson and The Golden Voices of Gospel from Harlem, New York with their melodic voices and rhythymic just-have-to-sing-along music.

The Brighton born British singer-songwriter Nick Howard, the 2012 winner of the German televison show "The Voice of Germany"

The stunning and talented group of violinists and cellists, MUNICH Strings will present variations of Classic and Rock music as well as modern interpretations of Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart. 


Tom Gaebel & his Orchestra. Big Band-Sounds co-exist effortlessly with Easy Listening when he takes the stage.
.
Natalia Posnova, amazing pianist and interpreter of songs

Mama Afrika, the percussion group founded in Senegal, but now well known in Germany for their powerful music

Blechlawine Dresden, Dresden's very own drummers with their giant drums and thunderous Bassfass-Beat

The mentalist Nico Haupt with his own unique mixture of magic, rhetoric and philosophy to confound and confuse .











For more information on the programme visit http://www.hopegala.de/de/130564-Programm-2014
Tickets information at http://www.hopegala.de/de/103410-Tickets

All photographs courtsey of the 9. HOPE-Gala Dresden 2014 website

Schrebergardens in Dresden

Schrebergardens in Dresden

Well, this is a bit of an unusual topic for someone to blog about on a Walking Tours of Dresden website, but it is a subject that has interested me since I decided to make Dresden my home almost 15 years ago. 

Let me start with a little background information about myself. Before I moved to Dresden, I had been living in one of the biggest urban jungles in the world, New York City. I was working as a historic preservationist and I was overall quite happy about many things in my life there. One thing though, was that I secretly yearned for regular contact with plain old dirt in the form of a garden. My fire escape just wasn’t enough. Community gardens were in a nascent form then and, if the winds of fate had not blown differently, I may have ended up becoming active in one.

Still, as life would have it, I ended up in Dresden and integrated myself into the life here as quickly as possible. One thing that had fascinated me even before I started to live here permanently were these large garden communities throughout the city, not only in Dresden, but in all German cities. They were a bit like the community gardens that were starting to come to life in NY, but much, much bigger and older and much, much more established. Clearly, things were going on in the urban gardening world here that I did not know enough about.

Another thing that I noticed is that these Germans really have a knack for gardening!! I had learned about French gardens (symmetry, topiary arts, perfect hedges and fountains) vs. English gardens (naturalesque, rolling landscapes, flowering annuals and ponds), but nothing about German gardens. They were beautiful and if you talked to the gardeners, they knew so much. These gardens were full of blooming annuals, but also fruit trees, bushes and other plants that produce yummy things. They called their gardens “Bauerngarten” (farmer’s gardens) and the gardens are used not just to pick flowers for the vases or to stroll through, but to live in and enjoy all aspects of life in. 

Since then, whenever I have anyone come visit who I think has the slightest feel for nature, I try to drag them through some of these gardens. Some of them have little beer gardens (Of course! We are in Germany after all) and even restaurants. No one I have brought through one of these has failed to be impressed. Sometimes, I think how neat it would be to organize a tour of the Schrebergardens (as they are called). I’ve researched them a bit and the history of urban gardening in Germany is rich and long. I think it would be fascinating. Now all I need it the impetus to do it, so if anyone is interested in having a tour, let me know, and I will get to work!!

Contributed by Karen Reimann

Dresden Walks is happy to reasearch and design new tours. Just let us know!

Gala Concerts in the Dresden Zwinger

No city tour of Dresden is complete without the Zwinger, the party address of the Court under Elector August the Strong. The music for the celebrations resounded outside and indoors in the acoustically superb, elegant halls of the Baroque ensemble. 
Today, concerts in the Zwinger are a special experience. Three gala concerts are to be held in October in the Marble Hall in one of the Pavillions. It offers a great view of the entire grounds..

11.10.: Mozart-Gala - A melodious medly showcasing the diversity of Mozart's work
18.10: Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
25.10: Tango meets Classic - known tunes of Tango as well as rare gems of Tango. 
The concerts of the Dresdner Residence Orchestra start 17: 00. 
The Orchestra was formed specifically for performances in the Zwinger and promises musical entertainment of the highest standard.

For more information, please visit following website: www.concerts-dresden.com 
Tickets can be ordered by phone at 0351/41 88 62 30

“Jewish. Now!” . The 18th Music and Theater Jewish Week in Dresden

The 18th Jewish Music and Theater Week in Dresden will take place from 26.10.14 till 08.11.14. As the slogan “Jewish. Now!” suggests, it will focus on the lively and progressive side of Jewish Culture through modern interpretations of music, theater, literature and film. Diverse venues will host a wide range of events exhibitions, films, concerts, readings and dance performances, courses, tours, lectures and discussions for both adults as well as children. 

There’s a choice of 30 events that are focused mainly on understanding and unveiling present Jewish life as well as its future.

Naturally, samples from the Jewish kitchen are also included. 

Daniel Kahn and The Painted Bird (USA) kick off the week on October 26 with "Bad Old Songs"- a new punky take on traditional Jewish dance music. 
The Festival ends with a party with DJ Doran Toudescu & Loiko Zobar describing their gig as doing a 'Klezmer-Beats, Balkan-Hoppa, Bollywood und Eastern-Ska'! 

The synagogue will be explained especially for families and children on November 2 by one of our guides from DresdenWalks.

The Jewish Music and Theatre Week is organized by a association of the same name, the Jewish community and Hatikva – the Education and Meeting Centre for Jewish History and Culture in Saxony.

Enjoy the jewish side of Dresden! 

For more information see: http://juedische-woche-dresden.de/start.html (scroll all the way down for information in english). Photos courtsey CAPRICIEUX

Dresden hosts the German-American festive day

A big German-American gathering will take place on October 4 in the Town Hall of Dresden.

200 members of German-American clubs from all of Germany and exchange students meet for their

annual exchange of ideas.

October 6 was declared a German-American festival by Americans of German origin. This day in

1683 the first German settlers arrived in Philadelphia/America. Celebrations take place in

those parts of the US where people especially remember their German roots.

Often a Oktoberfest is organized – like in Columbus, Ohio, the Dresden twin city. In New York a great parade has been held since 1957, the so called Steuben Parade.

In Germany this day is almost unknown.

Contributed by Iris Stauch

The September sun is beautiful on the slopes of Radebeul and its vineyards. And on a clear day one can see all the way across the verdant slopes and the valley. Here is a view we would like to share with you.....

Helpful Hint 1: Getting to us from the Dresden Main Station

We began our tour as usual after the cathedral bells had stopped ringing. It was a few minutes after 12 noon. 

We had barely taken a few steps away from the green sign, our starting point on Schlossplatz, when two extremely out of breath persons ran up. Red faced, panting, it took them a few minutes to catch their breath and gasp "Dresden Walks?". "We're sorry for being late, but could we still join in?" 

Turns out, they had taken the 8:52 train from Berlin and arrived in Dresden at 11:36 am. That left them with 24 Minutes to get to our meeting point. They decided to walk. Actually 24 minutes is good enough. I have even had a young girl with a suitcase on wheels manage to walk all the way and get there on time from the station. What delayed them was standing in line to buy tickets for the tour. They needn't have, as we could have done that directly before the tour. 

In case you are planning to walk to our meeting point as well, it may be helpful to have exact directions. So here they are. Hope you find them helpful.

Getting to our meeting point from the main station (Hauptbahnhof)

By tram: Take either tram number 8 (in the direction Hellerau) or 9 (in the direction Kaditz) from Hauptbahnhof Nord. Get off at the stop ‘Theaterplatz’. On your right will be the Cathedral. Walk along the Cathedral and around it till you come to a large open square called Schlossplatz. Look for wide steps leading up to a terrace. At the bottom of these steps, to the right is the green board of Dresden Walks. This is the meeting point.

Trams come approximately every 10 minutes. Travel time is about 8-10 minutes.

Tickets: Buy a ticket on the tram or on the tram stop from yellow vending machines. If buying it from the tram stop, punch it in to validate it as you enter the tram. 

A single journey (Einzelfahrt) will cost 2.20 € and is valid for an hour. 

If you plan to use public transport for the rest of the day buy a Day ticket (Tageskarte) instead for 6€.

Look for the Family ticket (Familien-tageskarte) option if you are 2 adults (travel for children below 14 years is free with this ticket). It costs 8.50 € per family.

On foot: Exit the main station towards Prager Strasse/Wiener Platz. Cross the tram lines (7 and 10) and continue walking in the direction of Prager Strasse. You will find yourself on a pedestrian path along long glass fronted buildings with shops. All you have to do now is to keep walking this straight path for about 1 km (20 minutes) till you come to Schlossplatz, a large open square just before the river and the bridge. 

During this walk you will be crossing two main streets with tram lines. Each time just cross the lines and the main road and continue straight on. 

Once at Schlossplatz look for wide steps leading up to a terrace. At the bottom of these steps, to the right is the green board of Dresden Walks. This is the meeting point.

Here is a google maps URL to show you how easy it is.

https://goo.gl/maps/cHvsh

Note: Our tours begin at Schloss Platz every day. At 10:30 am in the German langauge and at 12 noon in English.
If you have booked though the Tourist Information Office you will be asked to wait there till picked up by us at 11:45. We then walk to the meeting point, wait there for the others to arrive till 12:00 and then begin.

Is there anything else you need information on? Please write in and ask!

Helpful Hint 1: Getting to us from the Dresden Main Station

We began our tour as usual after the cathedral bells had stopped ringing. It was a few minutes after 12 noon. 

We had barely taken a few steps away from the green sign, our starting point on Schlossplatz, when two extremely out of breath persons ran up. Red faced, panting, it took them a few minutes to catch their breath and gasp "Dresden Walks?". "We're sorry for being late, but could we still join in?" 

Turns out, they had taken the 8:52 train from Berlin and arrived in Dresden at 11:36 am. That left them with 24 Minutes to get to our meeting point. They decided to walk. Actually 24 minutes is good enough. I have even had a young girl with a suitcase on wheels manage to walk all the way and get there on time from the station. What delayed them was standing in line to buy tickets for the tour. They needn't have, as we could have done that directly before the tour. 

In case you are planning to walk to our meeting point as well, it may be helpful to have exact directions. So here they are. Hope you find them helpful.

Getting to our meeting point from the main station (Hauptbahnhof)

By tram: Take either tram number 8 (in the direction Hellerau) or 9 (in the direction Kaditz) from Hauptbahnhof Nord. Get off at the stop ‘Theaterplatz’. On your right will be the Cathedral. Walk along the Cathedral and around it till you come to a large open square called Schlossplatz. Look for wide steps leading up to a terrace. At the bottom of these steps, to the right is the green board of Dresden Walks. This is the meeting point.

Trams come approximately every 10 minutes. Travel time is about 8-10 minutes.

Tickets: Buy a ticket on the tram or on the tram stop from yellow vending machines. If buying it from the tram stop, punch it in to validate it as you enter the tram. 

A single journey (Einzelfahrt) will cost 2.20 € and is valid for an hour. 

If you plan to use public transport for the rest of the day buy a Day ticket (Tageskarte) instead for 6€.

Look for the Family ticket (Familien-tageskarte) option if you are 2 adults (travel for children below 14 years is free with this ticket). It costs 8.50 € per family.

On foot: Exit the main station towards Prager Strasse/Wiener Platz. Cross the tram lines (7 and 10) and continue walking in the direction of Prager Strasse. You will find yourself on a pedestrian path along long glass fronted buildings with shops. All you have to do now is to keep walking this straight path for about 1 km (20 minutes) till you come to Schlossplatz, a large open square just before the river and the bridge. 

During this walk you will be crossing two main streets with tram lines. Each time just cross the lines and the main road and continue straight on. 

Once at Schlossplatz look for wide steps leading up to a terrace. At the bottom of these steps, to the right is the green board of Dresden Walks. This is the meeting point.

Here is a google maps URL to show you how easy it is.

https://goo.gl/maps/cHvsh

Note: Our tours begin at Schloss Platz every day. At 10:30 am in the German langauge and at 12 noon in English.
If you have booked though the Tourist Information Office you will be asked to wait there till picked up by us at 11:45. We then walk to the meeting point, wait there for the others to arrive till 12:00 and then begin.

Is there anything else you need information on? Please write in and ask!

Day of the Monuments in Dresden 14th September

Normally not all monuments can be visited. But on the 14.09.14 many will be thrown open to visitors and guided tours will also be offered in some of them. This has been a nationwide tradition since 1993. 

Some of the monuments in Dresden that can be visited are: 

• The Garrision Church of St. Martins 
• The former Leipzig Station (can be visited only today)
• The Rose Garden
• The Weinberg Church in Pillnitz
• The Renaissace Castle Schönefeld

The address can be seen here:

http://www.die-infoseiten.de/tag-des-offenen-denkmals-event-1139.html

Dresden Walks on top in a Trip Advisor study: What did visitors to Dresden find most satisfying?

The newspaper BILD published the results of a satisfaction study conducted by TripAdvisor where participants were asked what they had liked the most in Dresden. In the field 'Attractions' Dresden Walks made it right to the top. It was the Nr. 1 attraction in Dresden! 

Many thanks to our guests, TripAdvisor and to the Bild. We are estatic! 

Read more about it here (in German though): 

http://www.bild.de/regional/dresden/dresden-leute/was-touris-an-dresden-wirklich-lieben-37574920.bild.html

Wine Festivals in and around Dresden in September

It has become colder, the sun is loosing power in these weeks. Autumn is coming. It’s the time when grape harvest starts. Wine growing has first time been mentioned in the Upper Elbe valley around 1400 and up to now white and red wine is cultivated in and around Dresden. In Dresden about 35 ha are covered by grapes. They lend Dresden special charm. There is even a state owned vineyard in Radebeul, the Western neighbour city of Dresden, the palace Schloss Wackerbarth estate.

In the last week of August the first vineyards began to harvest. The first wine is the so called Federweißer (in German consisting of two words: Feather and white) it’s also known as new wine. This is a ‘wine’(must) made of white or red grapes which just started to ferment. As it is not filtered it looks milky and it tastes a bit like sparkling vine.

Several vineyards invite to vine festivals on September weekends. There you can taste the wine and celebrate with the locals.

The Wine festival in Radebeul is perhaps the biggest and most traditional in the region – it lasts from Friday, 26, to Sunday, 28 September.
Throughout autumn vineyards invite into their small wine shops and taprooms.
Here you can read more about vine festivals and different vineyards of the region www.weinbauverband-sachsen.de/veranstaltungen

Reposted from Dresden Walks Website. Wriiten by Iris

The State Art Collections of Dresden: A Film

Watch this short film. It is a montage of glimpses into some of the Dresden Museums. Artworks lovingly displayed in gorgeous settings.
Film: © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden 2014

IBUG your life at Crime Show!

Crime Show, sorry...Crimmitschau was the 'City of a 100 chimmneys' at the beginning of the 20th Century, and was one of the major textile industries centre in Saxony. As the factories were closed down in 1990, they stood, abandoned and desolate. Till this week.
This week they became the site for a innovative and interesting art show called IBUG- an Urban Culture Festival that is a laboratory for urban artists. Confused? let me explain....

The walls of abandoned factories offer not just a large canvas but also an incredible atmosphere for legal Grafitti and Wall Art. These sites, once bustling and noisy hold forgotten stories of hope and despair. So IBUG invites a group of international artists every year to take over unused industrial locations in Germany and turn it7them into giant, massive, living and breathing art works. These buildings are to be torn down eventually, so the art work is temporary. But magnificent all the same.

For 2014 a former cloth mill of the Brothers Fau, a leather factory and a textiles museum were picked as the massive canvas.

Take a look at the site at http://www.ibug-art.de/en/konzept/
and if you are reading this today (29.08.14) consider heading there tomorrow for a Hip Hop Jam on Areal Schützenplatz at 9 pm. The music develops along with the art. Be surprised!

And oh yes, in the morning walk with us :)