Lots of people were surprised to hear we rented a car in Europe. While doing so cost us money parking-wise, it gave us a little extra flexibility to stop at sights en (or near) route. Our first of two such stops was the Konigstein Fortress, just across the Czech-German border, on our drive from Prague to Dresden. One portion of the road was closed and our GPS sent us off on small mountain roads in the way north of the Czech Republic, which was all fine and good until the road just stopped and we were in the middle of a muddy farm. Eventually, we found our way to the border where the traffic was backed up for several kilometers. The German police were out in full force; we assumed they were looking for migrants. When we pulled up the checkpoint, I was a little paranoid because we were supposed to have an international driver’s license in Germany. Our Cyprus drivers’ licenses haven’t come through, and there is no AAA in Cyprus to get an international license from. For a moment, I thought we were going to be pulled over, but once the policemen took a closer look at the two of us, I guess they were satisfactorily convinced we were not migrants and they waved us through. Relief.
We figured Konigstein was going to be deserted. It was, after all, a random December Sunday well off the beaten tourist track. However, once we pulled up to the fortress, there was a huge line of cars and no parking available. We were briefly inclined to give up, but since we had each other’s company we were emboldened to have a little adventure. We found overflow parking a few miles down the road, got into a random line, gave some guy money to get on a bus, and we were off to the races.
The place was utterly destroyed with Germans, enjoying a winter afternoon at the small Christmas market set up in the castle. I have found I generally appreciate places more if I “get” what’s going on, so I rented an audioguide but found the explanations to be long-winded. It seemed like every number I punched in ended up being a munitions bunker of some sort, and as military technology evolved, they were building new and better bunkers. The fortress is built on solid rock (as you can see), so I guess it was a pretty good place to stash high explosives. After its turn as a military fortification, it was used as a state prison until 1922. It was windy and bitterly cold, so I would bet it was not a great place to be a prisoner.
Dresden was home to Kaspar Von Friedrichs, a romantic painter. I think the resemblance is self-evident– the area around Konigstein, known as “Saxon Switzerland,” is full of these rocky, stacked outcroppings. My camera lens wasn’t able to fully do the landscapes justice, but you can get a sense of the place…
I wonder what life is like in such an idyllic German town. Is it a bedroom community, and people commute to Dresden? Or are they farmers or tradesmen? Rich? Poor? No matter, it looks like a nice place to live.
I was going to make some comment about Napoleon’s ulcers (even this goofy depiction of him has his hand on his chest), but I just looked it up and apparently standing with one’s “hand-in-waistcoat” was not actually a sign of having ulcers or stomach ailments…it’s just a pose that was in vogue during Napoleon’s time, as it conveyed calm, confident leadership. I think there’s something to that, but maybe because it says “I don’t give two shits what you think, I’m going to unbutton my coat and awkwardly put my hand here because I want to.”
It was starting to get dark, and Cyprus has thinned our blood, so we decided to head back to the parking lot shuttles. I expected German order and efficiency, which is apparently a total MYTH. The shuttle situation was a huge clusterfuck; we had to wait 45 minutes to get on a shuttle, because when the shuttle pulled up, a sea of humanity from the back of the line rushed the doors and filled it up. When we were at the very front of the line, and convinced we would finally get on a shuttle, the shuttle stopped short and people from the middle of the line rushed on without letting the front of the line go first. Finally, a fought fire with fire, squeezed up to the front of the line, put my hand across the door and blocked anyone from getting through before Sev and I could get on. I hate to make generalizations based on one experience, but the situation was so awful I’ll just say it: German order and efficiency is overrated. I wonder if it was an East Germany versus West Germany sort of situation?
Next photos– drawbridge/door mechanism and fortress entrance. My shots of the actual drawbridge/door were too dark to merit sharing, but this one turned out pretty spiffy:
