The next stop in our trip to the Alps was Ulm. It’s a small town in Germany on the river Danube. We decided to visit it because of its cathedral – Ulm Minster. Why is this church worth visiting? There are few reasons:

1. It is currently the tallest christian building in the world. Its gothic tower is 161,53 meters high.

2. In 1890 – 1901 it was the tallest building in the world. It lost its leadership position for buildings of the new world in Philadelphia and New York. By the way we can see how technical progress goes – at the beginning of 20th century the tallest buildings reached 160 meters while at the beginning of 21st – we can look down from over 800 meters high Burj Khalifa (read more about Burj Khalifa here).

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3. Tower and especially located almost at its top observation deck. Urban legend says that in good weather one can see the Alps from the deck. Unfortunately we werent given to check that – the deck was closed. We regret a lot because the weather was sunny and the view could have been interesting, maybe even we would have seen those Alps.

4. The construction of the minster took almost 500 years and since the first thing we noticed approaching the cathedral was scaffolding, we thought that the catedral is a kind of local Sagrada Familia – a church  permanently under construction (read more about Sagrada Familia here). But nothing like that – minster was finished in 1890 and scaffolding was used only for some restoration works.

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5. Minster itself is impressive work of art. Visitors are attracted by exterior and interior design of this today Lutheran church. You have to particularily see 16th century Besseser chapel with original stained-glass windows.

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The cathedral didn’t impress us that much but if you are somewhere near you will want to see it and the whole town for yourself. Maybe you will be more lucky than us and will get to the obsrevation deck and see the Alps. You should also know that this litte town ia a birthplace of Albert Einstein whose memorial can be seen on one of the old town streets, not far from Munsterplatz.

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Dresden – is it worth to visit a city which in the result of the events of February 1945 was deprived of all historical buildings? Or is it better, to understand its history, to stay home and read “Slaughterhouse-Five” Kurt Vonnegut? We had a chance to see Dresden on our way to Italian Alps and our impressions from the visit in the capital of Saxony were really positive. Walking the streets of its downtown it was hard to believe that a few decades ago it was completely damaged. Experts say that the present appearance of the buildings is the effect of the use Saxon sandstone, which quickly blackening adds the city center some charm. Below few reasons for which it is worth to visit the city which still remains this from Canaletto images.

1. We are starting our trip on the eastern bank of Elbe river with the Golden Rider and Japanese Palace. Despite this part of the city is not so interesting itself, its the place where we can see the best view of Dreseden.

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2. By Augustus bridge we are heading to Brühl’s Terrace. Walking the terrace along Elbe river we can see the buildings of Saxony’s Supreme Court, Academy of Fine Arts, Albertinium and many sculptures. At the end of the terrace we find the route to New Synagogue.

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3. Coming back to the north we are heading to New Market with Dresden Frauenkirche in its center. This church, with 300 years of history, only few years ago was opened for believers and turists after being reconstructed from the ruins.

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4. Few steps from the cathedra we can admire the Procession of Princes – the biggest in the world porcelain wall image. It was originally painted on the wall but later in order to make it waterproof it was replaced with porcelain tiles. Wilhelm Walther’s work presents 94 people, out of which 35 are the rulers of Saxony and other 59 are farmers, children and scientists. We will find there also 45 horses and 2 greyhounds. There is only one women on the image.

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5. Coming back to Elbe river, we are again around Augustus Bridge but this time we are heading north. On our way to Theater Square we see Dresden Castle and the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.

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6. The central point of the Theater Square is Semperoper. This monumental building is the third one built in this place. Opera was reconstructed only 40 years after World War II and it seems that it still has bad luck – three years ago it was flooded by Elbe river.

7. Right next to Opera there is a Zwinger – Rococo style palace. Complex suffered great damage during bombing of Dresden and even today we got the impression that it is being reconstructed.

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8. We rocomend finishing the tour at Weißeritzstraße. Here is Yenidze – building strongly differing from the baroque architecture of the city. This mosque-resembling structure was a whim of some tobacco enterpreneur who put it on the territory of his factory. Today it locates the offices.
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