I did a few posts about our recent trip to Germany, but I thought I would share a few more photos and offer some tips on travelling there.

Flight to Germany

We flew from Stanstead, which is fairly near to us, to Berlin with Ryanair. It is a budget airline, so expect to pay extra for most things. We used their 'priority' service so we could take a small suitcase each on board. Otherwise you are only allowed a small bag and cannot use the overhead lockers. We also got in first. The flight was a little delayed, so we got to Berlin quite late. We flew into terminal 2 of Brandenburg Airport which has less facilities than terminal one.

Since the dreaded 'brexit' we Brits cannot use the EU automated passport scanners and so had to queue to be checked manually. That took about an hour. So much for 'brexit benefits'. That meant we missed a train and so had some time to kill. We got some pizza in the airport before catching a train to Dresden. We did all our train tickets through the Deutsche Bahn and Trainline (UK) apps. Both offered similar prices. You tend to have to enter passenger names for the tickets and we were asked to show ID on one train. The stations tend to have no barriers, but we had someone check the tickets on each train.

Dresden

We stayed at the Dorint Hotel in Dresden. This is a fairly standard hotel with the usual services. You can get there with a tram from the station, but it is a short walk from the old town. We were only staying for two nights and they asked us if we would want the room cleaned. As we said no they gave us a voucher for free drinks at their bar. I have not had that before. They do a big breakfast buffet, but it gets very busy about about 8:30. Also nearby is the botanical gardens which is free to visit.

For the tram we used the Fairtiq app that operates in various regions around Europe. You connect it to a bank card or Paypal and then you just swipe the app as you start and end your journey. It works out where you went via GPS and you pay the same as if buying a ticket up to the cost of a daily one. They give some discounts if you use it for several days. It also allows you to add an extra person you are travelling with so you can pay for them too. We used that when we met up with my parents. We could have used it in Leipzig too, but did not need to. We used it a lot in Magdeburg.

We found Dresden to be a very attractive city, but you have to bear in mind that it was largely rebuilt after it was heavily bombed at the end of the war. They did a good job considering that the old communist regime was short of resources.

The Frauenkirche was largely destroyed, but they managed to recover all the pieces of the huge altar to restore it. There are several levels of balconies with a closed in one where the rich people could have some privacy.

I had various beers on this trip. This one is actually from Bavaria and the waiters were in their lederhosen. In Germany it is common to see breweries that were founded hundreds of years ago, 1328 in this case.

This is the Dresden art school that has to be inspirational.

Leipzig

Leipzig has the largest station in Europe that also contains a lot of shops. It does seem to be a good place if you like shopping with plenty of the big brands, but also lots of nice arcades with more interesting shops.

We stayed at the Amano apartments that are across the road from the hotel. It was a reasonable price and came with a small kitchen. We made use of that one evening. Our floor had a balcony so we could sit outside. It is a little noisy around there with the trams, but fine when the windows are shut.

There was a nice spring market by the old town hall with some medieval style attractions. Leipzig has some nice buildings, but did not quite have the 'wow factor' of Dresden. We did enjoy our boat trip to see some other areas. A lot of people around there have their own kayaks to make use of the river. It was nice for me to see the JS Bach locations where he lived and worked.

I had a Beethoven cake when we were in Vienna last year and so had to have the Bach one in Leipzig. This was in the museum cafe.

Another sweet treat was from Cinnamood who do various types of cinnamon roll from their outlets around Germany and elsewhere.

Magdeburg

Our next train took us to Magdeburg that we had visited previously. Our daughter is currently working at the university there, so we may well be back again. We met up with my parents who wanted to visit her.

We stayed at another Dorint hotel there. This one is a little different as it is in a big park on the edge of town. It is a nice place to chill out with a pool and spa. In the park we saw some deer and it is a nice area to run with the River Elbe right next to it. The rooms are not so modern, but comfortable enough. This one had no tea and coffee facilities whereas the other places we stayed had Nespresso machines. Of course you get a TV, but you will not find much in English apart from some news channels. You will probably need to use the trams if you stay there as it is a way out of the centre, but there is a stop just outside the hotel. As with the other Dorint there is a good breakfast buffet. We ate there on several evenings and that was also a buffet on those days.

Magdeburg may be less well known than our other locations, but it has a lot of history. The Dom (cathedral) is impressive and they have lots of green space if you want to walk or cycle.

There is lots of art around the city with sculptures everywhere.

When we travelled in Germany 30 years ago there were not a lot of veggie food options. Things have improved a lot since then and we were able to eat very well. Our last meal was at Peter Pane who do a wide selection of veggie burgers.

Travelling home

The journey home was fine. We headed back to Berlin with a change in Potsdam. That is somewhere we need to visit some time. Most of the countryside we travelled through on this trip is very flat with lots of forests and fields. We saw some cranes (the birds) in one field. When we travelled on the Easter weekend the train was really busy, but we always managed to get a seat.

Our flight back was on time. We had to go through German passport control again, but there was no queue this time. A recent change is that you do not have to take things like electronics and toiletries out of your bags at security. When we landed in the UK we could use the passport scanners and so were through pretty quickly. We used the 'meet and greet' parking service so it was a short walk to get the car and then less than an hour to drive home. There are some twisty country roads between us and Stanstead, but it was not busy.

That rounds up my reports from this trip. If you have any questions about travel then I can try to answer them. It would be great to make Hive more of a hub for travel information. I have used @worldmappin on some of my posts and I can see who else visited the same places on their site.

Safe travels!