Wednesday, May 27
Somewhere
between Berlin and Dresden we passed the 4,000 mile mark on our trip
(it sounds more impressive expressed as kilometers.) In Dresden we had
one site on our list, the rebuilt Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) that
was almost completely destroyed during the Allied fire bombing of
Dresden in 1945. The Communists never let the East Germans rebuild it,
but after that regime evaporated planning began. Anyway it's an
interesting story about the efforts that went into the reconstructed
church we see today - eminently Google-able for those interested. A
statue of Martin Luther stands in the large square in front of the
Church for this is a church for Protestants. Walking in, Norm turned to
Pam and actually said "Well, there's something you don't see every
day". The interior looks like a cross between a theatre and a French
boudoir Louis XIV style - lots of light, airy, pastel colors and absent
are the surfeit of statues of holy personages and other typical
iconography that often overwhelm most other (Catholic) churches we have
seen on the trip. The church is absolutely stunning - with the gold
gleaming and meticulously built from original plans and maintained so
that it looks better than new. Pam agreed, "Wow!". We almost missed it.
The church is closed to tourists from Noon to 2 pm for a service. We
made it to the front door at 11:50 am. A man was just putting a sign out
that the church would again be open at 2. Whew! Blast those miles of
autobahn construction before Leipzig.
Dark
stones are those salvaged from the incinerated ruins. It got so hot that
the stone pillars inside the church turned red hot and literally
exploded. Metal, of course, melted.
Yes, there is balcony seating.
These photos show the square surrounding the cathedral:
This gold statue was at the entrance to a shopping mall near the cathedral:
Next
we headed to Leipzig and the Porsche factory in a vain effort to see
the "Macan" SUV that has already been built, but not yet shipped to
close friends. Well, security at the gate is better than that at Fort
Knox when there was still gold there. We did not have a reservation.
However, our incessant cajoling and grovelling finally caused one guard
to relent, bless her soul, and she let us drive down a long lane at the
end of which is a magnificent building with a merchandise shop on the
second floor from which new Porsche owners can select (and pay for)
those Porsche-branded accessories that signal ownership status when the
car itself is out of sight (look who's talking, you two Harley owners).
Norm felt we were watched very closely while examining these treasures.
The Ukrainian worker look Norm has cultivated for the trip seems to be having an effect.
Porsche merchandise shop:
The factory - under lock & key!
Norm giving Ukrainian gang sign while simultaneously displaying Peugeot car keys.
Factory test track adjacent to above building.
And once again, Pam found a buddy for a photo op:
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