I Dream of Dresden

Some of the best museums in Germany are within walking distance of each other in the city center, and the architecture is, in a word, wunderschön. The Altstadt is currently getting fixed up from years of Communist neglect and the bombing in February 1945 (check out how the renovation of the Frauenkirche is going for me, will you?), and I can't wait to see how it will look.

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Best Way To Get Around:

It's possible to walk, since everything worth seeing is close together.

I had one of the best suprises of my trip here - when I was very young I saw a reproduction of Raphael's "Sistine Madonna" in a book and wanted to see it for myself one day (most people know it by the famous cherubs at the bottom - they were even featured on postage stamps a few years ago). When I entered the gift shop to buy a museum guide before going through, I saw the angels on a book cover and thought, "Is the 'Sistine Madonna' here? I thought it must be someplace in Italy..." Sure enough, it was in my guidebook, and when I finally found it in the museum I gazed at it for a long time, taking in every detail.

The museum has other priceless treasures as well: Vermeer's Girl at a Window Reading a Letter, Rembrandt's Rembrandt and Saskia, and Liotard's Chocolate Girl. A ticket to the Galerie and the Rustkammer cost only DM 4 ($2) - quite a bang for your buck!

This baroque masterpiece was built by Matthäus Pöppelmann and finished in 1727. It now contains four museums: the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters' Gallery), Mathematiker-Physikalischer Salon (Salon on Mathematics and Physics), Rustkammer (armory museum), and a porcelain museum.

The grounds are very well maintained in the style of typical baroque gardens, with manicured patches of grass and fountains. Over the main entrance, there is a series of bells made of Dresden porcelain that plays music on the hour.

Even if you're not into museums, it's well worth a visit.