Seeing my good friends Lionel and Ansgar again is always a treat for me. I didn't do any sightseeing in Basel this time, but I was fascinated by the main train station and how busy it was with all the commuters coming into the city.
I arrived in Dresden a few hours before Ansgar got off work – time enough to explore the city a little bit before we were heading to Meissen. Nature in Northern Europe was several weeks behind compared to Oregon and most of the trees still without blossoms or leaves.
Ansgar is not just a great friend, but also the best guide anybody could ever hope for. As an art historian he knows just about everything there is to know about buildings, paintings, artists, and their history. I explored Dresden by myself before he got off work, but then got the grand tour of Meissen the next couple of days.
One of the many highlights in Meissen are the Cathedral from the 13th century and the “Albrechtsburg” up on the castle hill. The late Gothic “Albrechtsburg” is considered to be the first palace in Germany and was built in the late 15th century, replacing a much older castle from the 10th century.
The train ride to Basel was the first time in a long while I used the high speed trains of Europe again. The German ICE provides a level of luxury and convenience I could only dream of in the US. Not all the trains in Germany are this modern though. The train from Meissen to Berlin was a rather old-fashioned and slow one. The main train station in Berlin on the other hand is as modern as it gets with its platforms on different levels serving tracks going from East to West and from North to South and its railroad tunnels underneath the city.
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