Trip to Leipzig with the Anglo-German Family History Society
May 2003 - Dresden

We left Colditz & stpped at a motorway café for lunch, as I wanted to keep the group together. We had a substantial slice of pork with rice. Dresden is wonderful. We parked near the Albertinum & went round the Green Vault with a jolly little woman guide, who said the Russians had swiped the contents after the war but returned it as an act of friendship to the GDR. Whatever, the contents was very unSocialist, much being very, very skilled goldsmithery done with very little taste by (?) for Augustus the Strong. It was still impressive. We went along the 'Armchair of Europe', behind the cathedral & into the Zwinger garden but did not have time to do the art gallery there. We had tea at the Semper Opera House. This building confounded my expectations by being vaster & a little intimidating. We did see the Weber Memorial & I had given a lecture in the coach about Wagner & Dresden, including the bit about the King hoping he would not organise the return of all the kapellmeister remains. I told them about Wagner' success there after the hard years in Paris & the 1848 revolution & its consequences for him. We went today, as Dresden has a Dixie Festival tomorrow, some of the direr entries we heard rehearsing & did they need it?