I took the bus from Berlin to Dresden. it is only a few hours away. Its a short walk to the tram, then a short tram ride to my accommodation. My apartment is quite large and is the top floor of a house. Helmut, the host is waiting and shows me the flat. His english is better than my german, which is almost non existent, however we still manage to communicate.

I am lucky with the weather in Dresden, as it has been nice and sunny except for 1 day.
Dresden is such a cool town. It has a wonderful mix of old and new. The old is really something. All of the buildings are just magnificent. Zwinger is such a wonderful place to visit and relax in one of the cafes.
There are christmas markets all over the city, which create a nice atmosphere. And the beautiful smells of hot wine, meats cooking over hot coals, plus so many other amazing smells.
One day i went for a rather long walk to Pillnitz Castle. It was a 20k round trip, and of course the only day it rains is this day, and no umbrella of course. At least the rain was only light.

One night my host Helmut asked me to join him and his english speaking wife, so she could act as a translator. We had a great chat and Helmut gave me some information on some cool places to visit. One is a little called town called Pirna. The other is Rathen, where you visit Bastei, some really cool rock formations.
So its up early on Sunday and off to catch the train. It is a glorious day, sunny with cold crisp air.
Pirna is a nice little town, but was very quiet, and the only action was the christmas markets.
The Bastei was well worth visiting. Bit of climb to the top, and the views were very rewarding. Have to thank Helmut for his advice.
Heading to Frankfurt on Monday by train, will be about a 5.5 hour trip.