A more non-urban look at Dresden

The Dresdner Heide! This is about 50 square kilometers of great forest and nice hiking, and lucky me, one way in is just around the corner from my house. We can go in by the Prießnitz, a little river that runs through the Heide and into the Elbe.











































































































These sculptures are right by where we enter the Heide. Unfortunately, I don't know the story behind them, but I do like them!



























































The high water this fall washed a whole bunch of sand all over the place!



















Here's the little sandy beach that stays amazingly cool on the hottest summer days. Instead of having air conditioning, I can just bring the kids out here to stay cool!








This past Sunday we had the crazy idea to use the beautiful weather to hoof it to the Prießnitz waterfall. We've always seen the hiking signs for this down by Bautzner Straße, and sort of wondered just what kind of a waterfall this is. Finally we didn't have any other plans, so we went in search of the water fall. It's about a 9 kilometer walk from our house, even doable by a four-year-old!

















































































We started at Alaunplatz, and from here it was just one more kilometer. Good thing you can pretty much find a waterfall by following the water, because this was the first marker we saw on the whole trip. But what is a trip into nature without a little adventure? We didn't even think to look at a map before we left.























This little hut by the waterfall is pretty neat, too bad somebody decided to burn it down.
























There it is, the Prießnitzwasserfall! Not to be a jaded, spoiled brat, but it was kind of anticlimactic finding it. I'd always had the idea of some great, mysterious hidden treasure in the Heide, but this is just a tiny little waterfall. Oh well, we made it and it was a nice walk!

Just some regular old every day stuff in Dresden

A view of the Dreikönigskirche was what I got to enjoy out the living room window of the place we stayed in for the weeks after our return to Dresden in July 2009.























My way to work used to involve biking through Johannstadt past the super cool ruin of the Trinitatiskirche. And it's not just an old broken down place, there's also a lot on offer there like concerts and other shows! It's a very cool venue, I saw a concert there a number of years ago.



















Here is Dresden's Altstadt, or old city center, illuminated in all its glory. Yet another sight from my bike ride on the way home from one of my evening courses.



















A lovely place to go for a walk that's not too far from my house (and super close to the Kindergarten) is along the banks of the Elbe River!



















Another view of the Elbe and old city center from last week.



















Another nice attraction along the Elbe is the rose garden, also walking distance from us. Even this time of year you can spot some gorgeous flowers!
























The rose garden in fall, not quite as lush as in the summer when everything is in full bloom, but still quite nice!


















The Gasometer, another architectural highlight from my weekly bike rides to work. These round buildings used to be used to store gas, the one on the left has been fixed up and it now houses the Panometer: artist Adagar Asisi has put up a 360 degree panorama of historic Dresden inside. It's breathtaking!


















One of the companies I teach at moved to a new building, which caused me some concern, because I thought the trip would be significantly longer. It still takes the same amount of time to get there, and my new route to work takes me through the Großer Garten, and I get to enjoy this view once a week!


















And on the way home, I get to see this view of the palace.

Now I hope my far away family and friends have a little taste of why I am so enamored of this place where I live!

Happy First Birthday, Baby!

This birthday I was inspired to cook up a hedgehog cake that turned out to be a bit more of a crooked porcupine, but oh well, the buttercream tasted great!

Die Russenlampe

We borrowed this lamp from someone after moving into our new place last year. The lender called it a "Russian lamp". But I saw a picture today that blew this right out of the water: a Russian faucet.