We started the day by going back to nearby Moritzburg, to have another look around the impressive schloss – set in the middle of an artificial lake with geometrical gardens all around. It was built and used as a hunting lodge by the Duke of Saxony in 16^th century.

We spent some time sitting on a bench in the huge park behind the schloss – it was like sitting in a room as the hedge goes all around the bench. We took some more notes of Elsbeth’s life stories for the biographical notes we are writing. Then we meandered around to the front of the schloss and had some beers at a outside cafe on the terrace of the castle. Some people came by all dressed in period costume, but it wasn’t clear what the occasion was.

We walked around the town. There are lots of horse drawn carriages carrying tourists, with the horses looking very well cared for. We also admired some beautiful small gardens around people’s homes. At the end of our walk we stopped for ice cream cones, and Kris went to fetch the car again while Elsbeth and I sat in the sun.

Then we went onto Konigsbruck – another cute little town but with nothing exceptional to see. It was extremely quiet, being Saturday afternoon nothing was open except a kebab place. After a walk around we decided to try a kebab. The food was good and cheap and the place was friendly with a little bar alongside the kebabs. It was unusual for us to see some people smoking in a back room around some slot machines when we went to the toilet! Elsbeth had a discussion (in German) with the Turkish owner and his wife abour the election in Turkey.

Our next stop was Kamenz. We parked opposite the town hall, just as a wedding party was coming out. The bride looked much younger than the groom. This town was also almost eerily quiet.

We walked down the street to the monastery church of St Anne (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klosterkirche_St._Annen_(Kamenz)), which had an impressive old exterior. There was also an ice cream parlour opposite, and this was actually the liveliest part of the town, with a number of cyclists and families eating ice cream.

The church is now a museum, but is also evidently used for ecumenical services. It used to be the church of a Kamenzer Fanciscan convent. There were a number of interesting objects (copies of Luthers writings from 16^th century, small relics, etc) in special display cases dotted around the sides of the church. Also a collection of beautiful gothic 16^th century alters, with different themes. I liked the alter that showed scenes from the life of St Francis.

 

After visiting the church we enjoyed ice creams at the ice cream parlour opposite. We then found the part of the old town wall, which had been built by monks around 16^th century but it was not very impressive.

Opposite was the Lessing museum (Gotthold Ephraim Lessing – 18^th century writer, playwright and philosopher). It was almost 5pm, so they let us through to have a quick ten minute look for free. It was all in German so I couldn‘t pick much up. There was a nice garden next to the museum with some interesting sculptures referencing some of his works.

We also visited main Lutherin church in the town (St Marien) and the site of Lessing’s birthplace opposite the church (it evidently burned down). The we walked around the church with was surrounded by graves. The oldest stones were almost completely warn away – centuries old. One of the newest was for a woman who died this year, aged 100.