Finished packing. Drop my bags off at Zelda’s room, then she, Juli and I head to breakfast once again at Amici. While eating, we make plans for our last few hours in Berlin. Juli and her mom Zelda are off shopping — back to the Gudrun Sjödén boutique (Markgrafenstraße 32) and then a few other shops once Tejomaya is up; I am off to the Berliner Dom, which I have been wanting to see inside. With further plans to rendezvous at the Annette Görtz boutique (Markgrafenstraße 42).
The walk to Museum Island has become very familiar as I head down Behrenstraße to Bebelplatz; then right, past the Deutsches Historisches Museum and over the Spree to the Lustgarten in front of the Altes Museum (across from the Schlossplatz and the Hohenzollern Palace), to the Berliner Dom.
People are queued up to purchase tickets from a vending machine. Standing in line, I watch closely as the family in front of me makes their ticket choice, inserts a credit card and receives their tickets. I feel confident when it is my turn. Placing my credit card into the slot, I make my choice and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait for my ticket to appear. An Asian man behind me taps me on the shoulder gesturing to be patient just as it appears. Becoming frustrated that my credit card does not “pop” out of where I had inserted it, the man reaches past me to “fish” it out manually as it is barely visible. Whew! I smile and nod at the man in gratitude as I walk away — how technically inept I have modeled Americans to be!
The Berliner Dom is a magnificent cathedral as well as the largest and most lavish church in Berlin. Built during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm (1888-1918), this Protestant church was designed by Julius Raschdorf and built between 1894 and 1905, shortly after Germany had been united (1871). The emperor’s intention was to give his capital stature and legitimacy, and the Berliner Dom’s architecture reflects the empire’s aspirations to power combining Neoclassical, Neo-Baroque, and Neo-Renaissance elements with stucco and gold-tiled mosaics. |
Damaged during WWII, after almost 40 years of restoration work the church was reopened in 1993. Highlights of the church include its main nave that is capped by a 279-foot high dome, a 20th-century Neo-Baroque pulpit, a huge Sauer organ, the ornate tomb for Frederick I (Frederick the Great’s grandfather).
After climbing up several flights of stairs to view an exhibit about its restoration, I was turned away from climbing further up into the dome to see the views . . . apparently, I had bought a ticket that did not include this feature. Oh, well.
Back down the stairs, and then into the crypt where members of the ruling dynasty are entombed . . . sad to see how many baby tombs there are.
Hot, sweaty and very thirsty, I made my way through the gift ship to the outdoors — where the temperature was no cooler (or warmer). Thankfully, there is a small café outside the Berliner Dom where water can be purchased. After checking text messages, I headed to our Nuest’a rendezvous point — the Annette Görtz boutique.
Back across the Spree and Bebelplatz, I am the last to arrive at the boutique. So many beautiful pieces of clothing in her fall collections. Unfortunately, it is impossible to look at — let alone think of trying on — wool and equally beautiful and heavy materials made into sweaters, coats and jackets. Instead, Tejomaya, Zelda and I try several things on from her Spring/Summer line — tops, light jackets, pants. After making a few purchases between us, we are off to Zara (Friedrichstraße 88) and Massimo Ditto (Friedrichstraße 83) shops for a “younger clientele — about two-blocks away. With a couple of hours before our train back to Dresden, we grab lunch at a small café, pick-up our luggage, and wait for our taxi in the Regent Hotel lobby. |
As the “crow flies”, the Hauptbahnhof is relatively close to our hotel. The drive is short — especially since we’ve become familiar with these streets over the past few days. Upon arrival, we take the escalator down to the designated platform, purchase bottles of water and snacks, and wait for our train to arrive . . . on time — another outstanding aspect of Germany is that it runs efficiently (and logically for linear-minded people)! |
Again, we are sharing a compartment with two others. Extremely warm inside, though the air conditioning is turned high. I drift between reading and dozing. As we near our train stop and are pulling our suitcases down from the rack above, an Asian family pushes their way inside our compartment creating a barrier for us to exit. Zelda slips by and heads off the train as Juli, Tejomaya and I wrestle our way past the newcomers. Walking as fast as possible in the narrow corridor towards the train’s exit, it begins moving — we watch incredulously as the train pulls out of the Dresden station with the three of us Neust'as still inside!
Thinking quickly, Juli calls Konstantin, who is meeting us at the station, to tell him what has happened and look for her mom as she is the only one who made it off the train. As others queue up behind us at the train door, it is apparent we are not the only one’s who didn’t make it off the amazingly quick stop. Forty-minutes or more later, we disembark at the “next” stop at Bad Schandau.
Thinking quickly, Juli calls Konstantin, who is meeting us at the station, to tell him what has happened and look for her mom as she is the only one who made it off the train. As others queue up behind us at the train door, it is apparent we are not the only one’s who didn’t make it off the amazingly quick stop. Forty-minutes or more later, we disembark at the “next” stop at Bad Schandau.
Bad Schandau is a spa town and only about 6 kilometers (less than 4 miles) from the Czech Republic border. In fact, this is exactly where we would be getting off had we time to do some hiking in the Saxon Switzerland National Park in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. I had so looked forward to hiking around Bastei, the most famous rock formation in this area, and the Bastei Bridge, a 250-foot man-made bridge that connects the rock formations and offers 360-degree views, and remnants of old medieval castles. Another time! |
No sooner did Juli find out we can purchase on the train heading back to Dresden, than it arrived. More relaxed on our way back to Dresden, I can more fully appreciate the beautiful landscape and Bastei rock formations as we travel alongside the Elbe. I notice too, several people kayaking the gentle river and fly-fishing. Now I really want to return here — spa, kayaking, fly-fishing . . . what’s not to love here!
Once we arrive in Dresden, we hail a taxi to Hotel Suitess. Our driver tells us there is a three-day festival on the Neumarkt — with food, beer and alcohol booths, entertainment, and cycling races that start/finish there each morning. Returning to my hotel room is like coming home with more than half of my things waiting for me. After a shower and change of clothes, we meet up in Zelda’s apartment to make a plan. Having sat on trains for several hours, we are all on board to take in the festival and eat Brats for dinner!
This part of Dresden is so familiar as we check out the festival that sprawls from Neumarkt to Altmarkt. One stand offering mango lassi draws me in. Refreshed with the yummy-delish taste and beautiful memories of my trip to India earlier this year, I meet back up with the others as we check out where best to purchase dinner of brats and beers. Konstantine is our expert. Along our route, we watch volunteers make snacks for the cycle racers tomorrow. And, just as we are all getting really peckish, he pronounces that a booth at Altmarkt is worthy of our Euros. Served like a hotdog, the bread, for me, is merely the “plate” to hold the brat and keep the mustard from getting all over me. Curiously, they aren’t offered with sauerkraut, which I personally think would be a welcome addition in flavor!
Recipe for Baumstriezel — Chimney Cake Makes 3 pieces Ingredients
Instructions
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Instructions
- Place the flour in a large bowl, add yeast, sugar and salt.
- Mix in oat milk and melted butter.
- Knead into a smooth dough and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rest for 2 hours.
- Preheat the broiler of your oven to 250°C.
- Grease a rolling pin with butter and wrap the handles in aluminum foil.
- Divide the dough into three pieces. Roll one piece into a disc, 0.5 cm thick. Cover the remaining two pieces with a damp kitchen towel.
- Cut the dough into a spiral, so that you get a long string that is about 1 cm thick.
- Tightly wrap the string around the rolling pin.
- Brush with melted butter and generously sprinkle with sugar.
- Place the rolling pin over a baking dish so that the handles will rest on the edges of the dish but the centre of the pin with the dough wrapped around it won't touch the dish.
- Place under the broiler and bake for about one minute or until the sugar starts to caramelise and changes its colour to brown.
- Rotate the pin a bit and repeat.
- Bake and rotate until the cake is evenly browned.
- Carefully remove from oven. Cover with a kitchen towel and push the cake off the pin.
- Serve and eat immediately. Sometimes these are served with custard or soft ice-cream inside the chimney
- Bake the remaining two chimney cakes.
On the way back to our hotel, Zelda introduced me to honey covered almonds that were also addictive! She also introduced me to a fried dough with powered sugar treat that is reminiscent of a Polish dessert my mother use to make once a year when my brother and I were young . . . Mrs. Axten’s Chrushiki, which was made with flour, egg yolks, salt, sour cream, 200-proof Polish vodka. Relatives coming from Poland would bring my mother unlabeled bottles of vodka, which shewould hide away just for this recipe! The one’s we purchased tonight were good, but not nearly as attractive or tasty (most likely these didn’t have 200-proof vodka) ... Sorry no pics, as I was do busy stuffing myself!
Back at Zelda’s apartment, we made train reservations for Prague before saying good-night. While unpacking my suitcase, the music outside in the Neumarkt turns to danceable rock music. Texting the Nuest’as, only Zelda was interested in joining me on the square for some fun! And, fun we had . . . dancing and singing to American songs we know and just dancing to one’s in German that we didn’t know. With drinks in hand, we had a grand time . . . staying past the main entertainment and until the clouds released more than a sprinkling of raindrops.
Back at Zelda’s apartment, we made train reservations for Prague before saying good-night. While unpacking my suitcase, the music outside in the Neumarkt turns to danceable rock music. Texting the Nuest’as, only Zelda was interested in joining me on the square for some fun! And, fun we had . . . dancing and singing to American songs we know and just dancing to one’s in German that we didn’t know. With drinks in hand, we had a grand time . . . staying past the main entertainment and until the clouds released more than a sprinkling of raindrops.
By the time, we reached Hotel Suitess, the sky opened up into a downpour — lucky us!!!