Germany - A Saxony Culture Tour
Chemnitz & Augustusburg

Saturday 1st July 2006 to Chemnitz & Augustusburg on the way to Dresden

Frau Kramer asked where we were going & turned up her nose at Chemnitz but enthused about Dresden. We drove lazily along the old main road (B173) to Chemnitz & found the Theatre car park with no difficulty. Problem one was that it was 1000 & the art gallery (Kunstsammelung) did not open until 12.

Chemnitz Theatreplatz has (left-to-right)...
Art Gallery	Opera House	Church

We walked into the city centre, passing the gross Karl Marx bust & found some remaining old buildings in the centre, including the magnificent town hall & a cathedral. The information girl in the town hall was very helpful & gave us two maps. Outside, there was a market which seemed mostly to specialise in tasteless (with one exception) pots & vases.

Karl Marx 20' wide	Roter Turm	The Lutheran Cathedral had a father showing his little son how to play the organ & another man pointed out that they were restoring the main part after the war damage (WWII). We walked to the market hall & the stream before returning to the pedestrian zone for coffee (E3.20). It was too hot to explore further. Then, up to the Art Gallery (E10). This did not disappoint. There were about 30 Schmidt-Rottluf paintings as well as a few other expressionists. We did not know most of them & several were quite stunning. Meanwhile, in the Theatreplatz (which also has another big church & the Opera House), an orchestra were rehearsing for a concert tonight. We sat in the balcony of the relatively expensive Hotel Chemnitz for a salad lunch but the rehearsal soon stopped after some Wagner. Avis did not like Chemnitz but I reckoned that, as it was considered the armpit of the DDR, it was not bad at all!
Town Hall	Market Square
Schmidt-Rottful paintings, Fishing Boats, Gateway & Moon in August (ripped off other web sites)

Then, we drove East but at Thoma, the road was up & we were pushed South with no indication of how we got back on B173. We took advantage to go to the Augustusburg Schloss This late 16th Century confection does not seem to have much defensive capability.

Augustusburg Schloss

A series of little roads got us back on the B173 at Freiberg, where we stopped for a look but it was getting very hot, 33°C. Although there were plenty of people in the Chemnitz shopping centre, nowhere else seemed very inhabited at all & Avis found this creepy. This included Freiberg. The villages were mostly in steep-sided little valleys cut into a sort of plateau but occasional rises meant you could see for miles. We went up to the motorway at Grumbach, as I had worked out using the new motorway would make it easier to find the hotel. In the event, it made no difference. The hotel is the "KIM Hotel, Dresden" & has shops under part of it & no air-conditioning! We had a good dinner in their "Tenne" restaurant, which was full of old timber & made to look very peasantish.

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