06Jul – Meißen

During the night, we arrived in Meißen, the cradle of Saxony. It is a one factory/one castle town: the world-renown Meißen porcelain factory and the hilltop Albrechtsburg castle ‘n’ cathedral.

The morning begins—after the usual start-of-day rituals—with a visit to the Meißen porcelain factory. We are herded through three demonstration rooms where nearly mute crafts men and women exhibit their carefully orchestrated steps in the making and decorating of porcelain. (One of our group mentioned that they thought the artisans may have been “dumb” as not a syllable was uttered until half way through the second room.)

Then, like a Disney ride’s conclusion, we were released into the Meißen porcelain store, outlet, museum and gift shop gauntlet before re-emerging on the street.

Next, our group is given a guided walking tour of town. One unique feature of the town is found in the Church of Our Lady on the market square. Its tower carillon is made of Meissen porcelain bells. (In the center arch of the picture.)

When the tour ended and we were released on the populace, Rob & I stopped at a little restaurant just off the market to try the suggested Saxon white wine and Saxon cheesecake. It was a delicious choice.

After our late-morning pick-me-up, we meander to the boat for a quick lunch before our afternoon excursion. We use this opportunity to take a few (too many) castle selfies from the pedestrian bridge leading down to our boat dock.

We are bussed up into the rolling hills outside of Meißen to a privately-owned winery. Once the residence of German royalty, it was appropriated without compensation by the Soviets after the war. Since the demise of the GDR, much of the former estate has been repurchased by the Prince of Lippe and family. The Prince, himself, joined us as we toured the family schloss, giving us a little historical background on the family and even fielding questions from the group. We were then escorted to the Chinese Pavilion on the rear of the house which overlooked the grounds and served as a tasting room. There was some time allowed to wander outside a bit before we were transported to one of their vineyards for a panoramic view of the Meißen area.

Then back to the boat for dinner. We passed on the evening’s entertainment–the crew show–and called it night.