Excellent Adventure 2018 Day 7 - Long Winding Road to Wittenberg

An early day for all of us, and even earlier for Andy, who got up before 5:00 a.m. to go running. We were instructed to put our bags outside our door by 8:00 a.m.

Fortunately, it's not very far to Meissen from Dresden. It was originally supposed to be an actual stop on the cruising itinerary, now relegated to a pass through day trip.

The day was promising to be even hotter than previous days. It was great to spend the morning inside an air conditioned building.

Meissen porcelain has been produced in Meissen since the early 18th century. It's still being made by hand in the same factory. We walked through 4 demonstrations showing how the porcelain goes from start to finish.

This photo shows the last stage - adding color to the fired pieces. Behind the artist are sample plates at the different stages. On the second row (right by her head), the 3rd plate from the left is the last stage before the final firing. The dusty purple color of the rose turns bright pink during the firing.

Very beautiful porcelain - and very expensive. Nothing there really caught my eye, thank goodness. Except for this guy:

This elephant was made in the early 1700s, soon after the factory opened. Unfortunately, the artists who made him had never seen an actual live elephant, and of course, photographs didn't exist. So they created him from descriptions.

There's lots of things that are anatomically wrong - a couple you can't see from this angle. Which ones do you see?

After the Meissen tour, we were brought to the Ratskeller Restaurant for lunch - yey! more beef and potatoes! It was just ok. Meat and potatoes is wearing very thing these days.

There was an optional walking tour after lunch. The temperatures were now approaching 100 degrees; I opted to hang out at the restaurant and chat with people on the tour.

Here are some photos Andy took along the walk. At some point I'll come back and put captions on the photos as to what they are:

Fremmel 

After the walking tour, we climbed back on the bus and we were on our way to Wittenberg - another 2 hours away. The bus rides are also beginning to wear a little thin.

We arrived at our new ship, the Beyla, at around 5:00 p.m. The entire crew was out on the gangplank holding umbrellas to give us a bit of shade as we boarded the ship. It was great to be not moving! 

Unlike Dresden, this time we were not docked anywhere near the town center. We were a little out in the boonies, with nothing but grass, trees, and assorted wildlife - very peaceful.

Dinner was "German Night"! A buffet of - more meat and potatoes! The new maitre'd helped us figure out which items were not pork. It wasn't easy. To add to the festivities, we had live music - a clarinet and accordion duo, belting out German folk songs. 

After a really, really long and very, very hot day, it was a bit too much for me. I couldn't hear myself think. There was a game night scheduled for 9:00 p.m., but I just crashed in the silence of our stateroom. Andy had a great time.

Tomorrow: Wittenberg (btw, it's pronounced Vittenberg).