What a day this turned out to be!
We actually made our destination - Bad Lausick! Sorry Lau if you are reading - but we couldn't help ourselves. But getting here is another story!
The morning in Dresden started very much like any other Monday morning - up, showered, washed a few clothes, had breakfast and then headed off to the supermarket to replenish stocks.
From here - 100m further on - we decided to fill the diesel and to top up the LPG cylinder. This was where the trouble began! The normal filling process had completed, I uncoupled the nozzle from the cylinder when the gas started emptying from the cylinder. This is at a very busy service station in Dresden. In no time at all there were five. fire trucks, two police cars all turning up with their sirens full tilt. The petrol station closed itself down and waited to the emergency played itself out. The offending cylinder was was uncoupled from the van and place away from any danger to let itself fully discharge.
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| Our concerned and helpful Dresden Firefighters. |
We thought we had agreed with the fire people that they would take the cylinder and dispose of it - but language barrier again - they left it for us to dispose of! All this took over 75 minutes to play out! The service station folk were very helpful and generous in their assistance - given they lost 75 minutes of business as well!
So, with the adrenalin still running we continued on to Moritzburg, Augustus the String's hunting lodge and lunch by the lake. What a beautiful setting for a visit - especially when one needed some calming and restfulness.
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| Moritzburg Castle - hunting lodge of Augustus II |
After Moritzburg we finally were able to set off for Meissen and the very famous porcelain factory. The story of Meissen porcelain is closely linked with the man - Augustus II - for it was his 'persuasive' powers that saw the breakthrough of the Saxony alchemist in the production of porcelain.
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| The Man - Frederick Augustus II (The Strong) |
The Europeans valued highly the Chinese porcelain that had been highly priced by the traders of the time. So to unlock the secret of its production was a very sought after discovery. We took the factory tour and the museum - very interesting.
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| The Three Graces - again! |
It was still 30 degrees at 6.00pm when we came out of the Meissen porcelain factory - we either could go to the stellplatz in Meissen with no shade or drive on to Bad Lausick where there was shade. - not much of a choice hey!
On our way through we called by Colditz - the famous castle where disruptive Allied officers in WWII were sent - thinking that the place was escape proof. It proved to be a challenge no self respecting officer could refuse - consequently a whole escape industry was established within the walls of the castle by the officers. As it was pointed out though, after the war, the castle was actually built to keep people out - not to keep them in! Nevertheless an awesome presence overlooking the village.
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| Colditz Castle |
We moved on to our cooler overnight at Bad Lausick.
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| Bad Lausick |
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