This morning we took the bus through to Stolpen to visit Burg Stolpen. It is built on a base of basalt left behind after a volcanic eruption. It’s most famous for being the prison of Anna Constantia Countess von Cosel, who spent almost 50 years there. It was a leisurely walk up from the bus.

Today we had to tend to the little things that get in the way of having a holiday, like washing. Fortunately our flat came equipped with a washing machine so we arranged that Wicus would come over to our place for breakfast and some washing. Stean and I ended up having to figure out how.

We had to get up early on Friday morning to catch the train to Dresden. On the way to the bus stop Stean realized he had left his Dresden travel card in the previous days’ shirt. This resulted in him having to take a jog back to the flat and then to the bus stop..

After a quick lunch we took a brisk walk to the station to catch a train to Bad Schandau. The info centre at the station understood English and gave us a more detailed map than we had. We took the scenic route over the bridge to snap some pictures of the town and river. The.

After the wedding ceremony the bus took us to Butterberg. There the wedding couple had to saw through a large log together. This was quite an interesting tradition and we all had good fun cheering them on. This was followed by cake and tea where the wedding cake was also cut. After cake and tea.

So the wedding was at the Schloss in Neschwitz. It was a small affair with immediate family and friends. We had about equal German and South African representation. There was a last minute addition to the wedding in the form of a translator. So the non German speaking among us could also follow the ceremony..

The main reason for our visit is to see Leon and Sylvia get married and today is the day! In 2 hours or so a bus will take us to Butterberg for the wedding and reception. We will spend the night and return again tomorrow. We were thinking of going to Berlin, but there and.

We did a little shopping…

After gathering breakfast supplies we set out for a walk around Neustadt. Both the butcher and baker struggled with our lack of German but a few basics, finger pointing and their willingness to present each item ensured that we left well stocked. Making use of signage and some passers by we happened on a very.

We slept in a bit this morning, understandably, and are feeling pretty good. This is the view from our flat.