Climbing and climbing. That was today’s lesson in Adventuring 101. I headed off nice and early to check on a long walk, much of which was uphill, out the German Military History Museum. It was closed for maintenance. And it is also closed tomorrow, those 2 days just happen to be the only days I could have made it. BOOOOOOOOOO. I guess a tiger tank or suit of armor exploded or something. Annoyed I began the journey to my next location. A ways southeast of Dresden a few towns down is a region called Sächsiche Schweiz ([sesh-sisha shvitez] Saxony Switzerland). It is a national park, though the area is hundreds of miles from Switzerland. The area has extremely interesting and unique mountain and rock features, and is famous for its massive montain top Festung Königstein (fortress king’s rock) high above the city of Königsberg. Built sometime in the 13th century, it served as more of a prison than a defensive structure of war. Sadly the tunnels and chambers were an additional charge and I had not much time, but walking and the parapets and battlements overlooking all the land was an incredible sight and site. The castle is situated very high up on a hill with a bus that takes you most of the way. Walking even the short distance remaining was exhausting, then inside the walls you are greeted by more steep climbing through the main gate tunnel. Ironically, this fortress also has a German Military History Museum, yay! It too, was closed for ‘improvements’ and sadly that’s not a joke. But the view all around…just damn. I didn’t spend too long there, as it was beginning to get dark. A very annoyingly long wait for a stupid bus took me back down the moand where I got back on the train up to a small town called Kurort Rathen, the town isn’t exciting, but across the river is the treasure, so to speak. Past the small village across the Elbe river is a lengthy hiking trail, don’t forget steep too. So after a long utterly exhausting hike to th top of a mountain, I was rewarded with a view of the national park area, large spires and canyons of stone, an area inhabited by people a thousand years ago. In the early 1800s a wood bridge was built for the many visitors it had even back then, but in the mid 1800s it was replaced by a stone bridge called Bastei, after the name of the rock that holds it. The platforms connecting the rock spires high above the Elbe almost looks like a jungle gym, and all I can say is the views were yet again absolutely amazing. The pictures just don’t do it justice. There were many extremely old carvings in the rocks, and probably some very recent ones. I spent a long time up there, but the sun was setting so I headed back down, hopped on the train and headed back to town for the night!

Hasta la vista, Dresden. I’ll be Bach. Tomorrow I train out to Leipzig, home of famous composers such as Bach and Richard Wagner.

Bonus video panorama fom the fortress: https://youtu.be/83em2xkFFYg