Another beautiful day in Dresden. Jacob and I both feel like our trip is really coming to a  close. We check out of our apartment tomorrow morning and head to Nuremberg. Just one night there, then off to Munich. We will return our car and then fly home on Tuesday. We both miss Oscar a lot and look forward to seeing him.

Our apartment has a restaurant upstairs and we wanted to go up there to take pictures from the deck, so we headed up there first thing in the morning. Unfortunately we learned, you can only get up there in the middle of the day, during lunch. After that we walked to the reception desk because we needed to have the soccer tickets we bought printed out. The receptionist was very friendly, printed our tickets and then wished us a fun time.

From there we went straight the New Green Vault. This vault contains the unique works of the royal goldsmith and other works of Baroque jewelry. There are almost 1,100 masterpieces. We used our museum cards and walked right in. They allow photos here so I took a few, but they don’t turn out very well due to the glare on the cases. At the New Green Vault we admired the Dresden Green Diamond. This is a 41 carat natural green diamond, you can see it here. 

After the New Green Vault we decided to grab some lunch and stop by the Birkenstock store. I really wanted to get a pair of Birkenstocks at an actual Birkenstock store in Germany. The store was empty except for the two employees. One woman asked if she could help me in German, and I replied, “Do you speak English?” to which she said, “How can I help you?” in English. 🙂

She asked what size I was and I told her my best guess then she helped me try on a pair that I liked and explained how the sandal should fit. She was really helpful and I was very pleased with the pair I picked out. Plus I saved some money!

After shoe shopping, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for the soccer game. We were able to catch the tram just outside our apartment, unfortunately we took a wrong turn and ended up walking all the way around our building before getting to the correct stop. Then we repeated this mistake once we arrived to the stadium having followed the crowd we ended up at the wrong gate and had to walk all the way around the stadium. In Germany, you can walk around with open cans/bottles of beer anywhere so many people were drinking as they walked to the game. There were bins everywhere for people’s empty bottles.

Entering the game was pretty easy, they scan your ticket then you get in line. No metal detectors, but men get pat downs from men and women get pat downs from women, then you’re on your way. We noted that beers here are only 3 euros.

We found our seats and got there just in time for the start of the game. The fan section puts our Sounders fans to shame. It was incredible!

We really enjoyed the game. At the very start they had us hold up yellow and red posters, then at the end everyone ripped their posters apart and threw them in the air. I took a video you can watch here (sorry I bounce back and forth a bit).

The Dynamo Dresden lost 0-4, but we still had fun. I enjoyed the festive atmosphere and listening to everyone cheer on their team. One thing that is different from attending games in the US is that you’re allowed to smoke in the stadium. Jacob said he thought he was starting to get a buzz from all the smoke!

Once the game was over we followed the masses outside and toward the tram. We were able to get on right away, just had to squeeze in. We made it almost all the way back to our apartment, before the tram stopped. We weren’t sure why, but felt like we were close enough to our apartment to hop off. When we got off the tram we saw that there was a March for Science going straight down the road. It was the most un-enthused crowd marching that I have ever seen. I told them to get the energy up!

We stopped back at the apartment for a quick snack and hydration break then were back out the door to visit the famous porcelain museum at the Zwinger Palace across the street. We used our museum cards again and walked right in.

The porcelain museum was beautiful and there was so much to see! Here is a quick history of the pieces we saw… The collection was founded in 1715 by the Saxon Prince-Elector Augustus the Strong, and was originally housed in the Japanese Palace (then known as the “Dutch Palace”) on the banks of the Elbe. It moved into the Johanneum in 1876. The collection largely survived World War II thanks to evacuation, and moved into its current home in the south part of the Zwinger in 1962.

The sun was coming through the windows of the palace in such a delicate way it made all of the porcelain shine. Via the porcelain museum you are able to walk along the top of the Zwinger Palace, so we popped up there for a quick stroll and a photo but needed to keep going so we could catch the transport museum before it closed.

The transport museum had been on Jacob’s list but we had a four-day pass for this place so it kept getting pushed back. Again, like many of the other museums we had visited, this place was mostly empty even though it had some really interesting exhibits and information. I really enjoyed that the museum was interactive. When we first walked in, I saw a set of footprints on the floor and what looked like a pole, with a buzzer on top. However, that’s not what it was…after trying to hit the “buzzer” a few times, an employee showed me you lift up the “buzzer” part and its actually a speaker you put to your ear that tells you information about the display. Jacob got a kick out of that. How was I supposed to know?

We were able to see all parts of the museum before close. Unfortunately, one section is closed – probably for renovation so we weren’t able to go there.

It was getting close to dinner time at this point and we already had food at the apartment, but I suggested we stop by a bakery and pick up dessert. We have walked by this one bakery over and over and I couldn’t take it any longer! I bought two slices of cake and was delightfully on my way. These slices are waiting for me to consume shortly.

As I said, tonight is our last night then we are off to Nuremberg in the morning. Monday we will be in Munich and Tuesday we fly home! Until then…