Dresden, Chemnitz and Wiesbaden our final stand

I am by nature a "finisher", whether I am cleaning the paint brushes or entering the final photos and destinations in the blog, I prefer to finish. So here is the very hurried last week of our trip. The cities flew by and before we knew it, we were on our way home. We left Irene in Berlin with a kiss on the cheek after another wonderful German breakfast. I sure will miss those rolls. We took the train to Dresden. Our hotel was close to the train station, but far from the old town. The real Fall weather is certainly coming and the chill kept me from enjoying the half-mile walk between our hotel and the river. The lights on the palace, musicians in the tunnels and majestic old bridges made this a stop we will remember. We climbed to the top of the Frankenkirche, spectacular sunset over the city.

One day was not enough, but our final itinerary and travel weary bodies pushed on to finish where we began, back in Wiesbaden.

There is a fast train to Frankfurt from Dresden, but we decided to take a little side trip to Chemnitz to visit Gene's roots, and it made for a long day on slow trains and no dining cars. Note to self.... pack lunch AND dinner if you are taking the slow trains.

We planned a one-hour quick visit to Chemnitz , with plans to catch the next train. But, our one-hour became 3 and we saw more than we planned on. Chemnitz, in all of it's post Russian-style glory, served up the best cappuccino I have had in 5 weeks. And I have had some pretty great cappuccinos. Which, perhaps made it a worthwhile stop.

We accomplished the goal of purchasing Chemnitz beer mugs, and experiencing a couple of hours in the town where Gene's grandparents once lived. Not a destination spot, but as Gene says, "We can say we have been there". I am not sure the value of that, but it made him happy.

Back on the train by late afternoon, we spent the rest of the evening getting to Wiesbaden where we were so happy to see Caroline. She fixed us the traditional onion cake and apple cider and all was well with the world. Hunger can really make travel seem long and hard. It also makes for grumpy travel buddies. At one point Gene and I were sharing a hard candy he found in the bottom of his back pack. Yuk!

Our final days in Wiesbaden were warm and cozy, we saw one more castle while making the morning bakery run and had a chance to see Thomas, Philip, Alex and Vic one more time. Our blog title should have been Castles, Cousins and Cappuccino's!

Stefan and Sina had us over for home rolled pizza. Yum... and I got a good dose of Vitamin D in Caroline's back yard as the last sunny days gave way to the normal Fall fog. We certainly had unbelievable weather.

We are already planning our next trip, though it is great to be home. We got to feel our grand-baby kick, celebrate Gloria's 79th birthday and see little Andre. So all is well.