Day Trip to the Sächische Schweiz

Trip to Berlin
Reise nach Berlin

by N. Richard Wagner

Day Trip to the Sächische Schweiz (the Switzerland of Saxony)
We made a one-day trip on the train to what is called the Sächische Schweiz, which translates to the "Switzerland of Saxony". Saxony is a state in the former East Germany, partly well-known because Walter Ulbricht, essentially the head of East Germany for 22 years starting in 1949, came from Saxony and had the characteristic accent of these Germans. Before the German unification, this was a vacation spot for those in the East. My son said that the former east Germans (Ossies) still were the main ones vacationing there, but the Meier family disputed this, saying they were trying to attact tourists from all over. We didn't do a survey to see the breakdown, but there weren't many foreigners around (except for us, of course).
On both the way there and the way back, we went through Dresden, but we didn't get off the train. On my previous trip (in 2003), I got to see the ourside of the Frauenkirche. See the last part of this section for more about this wonderful church.
Our destination, officially the Nationalpark Sächische Schweiz, is just a short ways past Dresden toward the Czech border. Since we had travelled by train, we had to take a ferry across the Elbe river to get to the small town of Niederrathen, and from there climb up into the nearby hills. (This was the same Elbe river that I got to know in 1962-1963 when I was in Hamburg.)
When we asked about the ferry, my son, who is often mistaken for a native German, deliberately spoke with an American accent, thinking that they would be friendlier to a foreigner. I didn't really buy this idea. (Even when Germans think that John might be German, they always know for sure that he doesn't come from where they come from.)
Anyway, it was quite a climb, in two stages, first crossing a stone bridge (shown on the third row below). At the top, John was disappointed to see all manner of buildings, including a fancy restaurant, once used by East German big-wigs, and newly rennovated. (It turns out that there are also roads up to the top.) We ate an excellent meal there, and headed on further along a different interesting path that went downward between steep stone walls. We were groaning at the prospect of retracing our steps when a kind German going the other way told us that this way also led back to the town.
At the Elbe we found that the ferry boat had broken down, but fortunately they had a plan B: to use an excursion boat as a substitute ferry. We were in time to make the train back to Berlin without having to spend the night.

The Sächische Schweiz (the Switzerland of Saxony)

Die Frauenkirche (the Church of the Lady)
The Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of the Lady), was under construction when I visited in 2003, and it was consecrated in 2005 during a rare moment when Germans from all over got together for a deeply symbolic celebration. It doesn't exactly belong in my "Berlin trip" story, but I put it in anyway.
This magnificent Baroque church was finished in 1743 and was destroyed as part of the Allied bombing of 13 February 1945. Starting in 1989, a movement pushed to reconstruct the church. Instead of a normal reconstruction, they referred to it as an archäologischer Wiederaufbau ("archaeological restoration") because they used as many of the original stones as possible. Right now the old stones stand our in dark contrast with the very light new stones, but over time the new stones will darken and the church will look unified again. Details of this story are moving and widely available. Suffice to say that this building represents the best modern stonework in the world, and the finished church is a worldwide symbol of reconciliation and rebirth.
The sign in the second row below says: BRÜCKEN BAUEN / VERSÖHNUNG LEBEN (Build Bridges / Live for Reconciliation).
The restoration was financed through gifts from across the world. America had its "Friends of the Frauenkirche" headed by Henry Kissinger. Of the various stories, one was notable: as a child, Günter Blobel witnessed the fall of this church after it burned for three days. Later he became a medical researcher in the US, and eventually donated a large portion of his Nobel prize award to the restoration effort.
The church was widely known for many things: its beautiful design, its organ, its dome made of stone and shaped like a bell. Now the skyline of Dresden has been restored. I visited Dresden in 2003 with the boyfriend of one of John's roommates. He came from Dresden and was studying at the university there. He had thought that the whole enterprise was a bit foolish, that the money could have been better used elsewhere, but even he came around to enthusiasm in the end. (All of the pictures below came from the Internet.)

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