Good morning, I apologize for the lack of blog last evening. We walked 15 miles yesterday so I was tired. It was another one of those times when Jacob thought something didn’t look that far on a map, but then it was and we ended up walking 5 miles by 10 a.m.

But it was all worth it.

We started our morning in beautiful Dresden and walked down to enjoy our first complimentary breakfast. I accidentally poured myself way too much cereal. We both enjoyed our food and me, my coffee then decided to venture out.

Dresden is an amazing city with so many spectacular views! I took about 5,000 photos so here are just a few to share.

We walked all over the Old Town of Dresden and took in the sights. Since most of these buildings were bombed during World War II, many have been rebuilt and some buildings they are still working on. The architecture is absolutely amazing, every turn you take another incredible building!

After we checked out the sights of the main area of Dresden we ventured off and found a spectacular park with many trails and fountains. Unfortunately we were running out of time so we had to book it off to the hotel for our noon check out.

Since so much of Dresden has been rebuilt, they have many brand new buildings including the Centrum Galarie which is a large shopping center. We stopped there before heading out to pick up some snacks and an SD card adapter so I can upload my camera photos.

Then we ventured off to the Saxon Switzerland National Park to check out the Bastei Bridge. This park was about 45 minutes outside of Dresden. Because the German people are awesome and want their people to enjoy the outdoors they have a park and ride just three kilometers from the park. You can park your car and then pay $1 euro to hop on the bus, or you can walk to the park. Since we are tough Americans and decided we wanted to earn our view, (or maybe we didn’t want to wait 30 minutes for the next bus) we started walking!

Jacob pulled out his tablet with a map of the park and kept suggesting detours that would take us to see different sights of the park before eventually getting to the bridge.

Again, worth it. This park was amazing! Did I say that already? We walked through the woods and stumbled upon a few buildings in the middle of the park where you can literally buy beer and ice cream and then continue your hike. See below.

This place looked straight out of a fairy tale.

After being in awe of how cool that was we continued our hike through the forest. Being used to hiking in the PNW we were cautious for bears and cougars, well guess what, they don’t have those here. So no need to worry, you can frolic freely!

During our hike we passed a couple of bad ass Germans. They were an elderly couple hiking along these incredibly steep stairs. I was so impressed. I want to be like that someday. After we all reached the top of the stairs we stopped for snacks and the elderly couple told us Bon Apetit! They’re the best.  (Part of the stairs and hike below)

By the end of the hike we finally made it to the Bastei Bridge. The rocks the bridge sets on were part of a defensive ring for the Neurathen Castle. In 1824, a wooden bridge was constructed to link several rocks and then was replaced in 1851. The present bridge is made of sandstone.

For only $2 euro each we got to explore a bit more of the former defensive structure (photo 3)

The most exciting part of this whole journey was that I got to see a cat sleeping in the sunshine by the visitor center. It was so cute! I wanted to pick it up and snuggle it but Jacob told me not to disturb its nap.

Since again, we are tough Americans that like to earn our views and not wait for buses, we walked back to the parking lot. The bus beat us by 10 minutes. 🙁

From there it was off to Wittenberg while we still had sunlight left. I wanted to see the Castle Church where Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses that kicked off the Protestant Reformation. Though the original church was destroyed in the 1700s during the Seven Years War, it was rebuilt. The town of Wittenberg was a cute little German town and we enjoyed the stop.

After Wittenberg it was a slow hour and a half to Berlin. But here we are!

We have decided to have a relaxing day and are going to check out some museums.