We had opened all our presents on Christmas Eve, following the local custom. Indeed, Christmas Eve, as far as we can make out is the first day of Christmas. (As you will read below, this led to some confusion about a dinner reservation.) So Trisha's traditional Christmas morning breakfast was served at noon. This year we had a taste test between two varieties of Dresden stollen. The Mandelstollen won.
Afterward the men put on their jackets and ties, Trisha made herself beautiful, and we caught the tram to the center of the old city. We were going to see the traditional Christmas opera Hänsel und Gretel, by Engelbert Humperdinck at the Semperoper. The Semperoper was built by Gottfried Semper, opened in 1841, rebuilt after the 1869 fire in an operation that took until 1878, destroyed by a 1945 bombardment and then reopened in 1985 in a reconstruction largely based on the original structure. It is one of the most beautiful opera houses in Europe. Both Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss premiered operas here. A cool link of the interior from the King's seat can be found here.
As we walked from the Altmarkt station to the Semperoper Stephen froze. He was the only one not wearing a ski jacket.
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| From 2008_12_25 |
Soon we were standing outside the opera house.
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| From 2008_12_25 |
As we walked in you can see the Hofkirche in the background, and Stephen still freezing in the foreground.
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| From 2008_12_25 |
The interior was warm and gorgeous.
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| From 2008_12_25 |
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| From 2008_12_25 |
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| From 2008_12_25 |
The opera was magnificent. The acoustics were fabulous, no need for microphones and speakers. This picture shows the witch just after she entraps Hansel and Gretel.
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| From 2008_12_25 |
After the opera we walked over to the Hilton to find out that our dinner reservation was for the night before. At first this was an OMG moment. I had made the reservations in person just to avoid this kind of Christmas Day disaster. We realized that my mistake was saying that I wanted a reservation for Christmas day, the 25th. I was unaware that there was a conflict in that statement, since everyone makes their Christmas Day reservations for the 24th. The restaurant where we made our reservations was closed! So here we were, on our Christmas day without a place to eat!
But- wait. Although all the reservations in the Hilton's 6 restaurants were taken on the 24th, no one had made reservations for the 25th. So this was perfect, because now we could get into Rossini's, my original first choice. So up we went at 6:00 and arrived to find ourselves the only one present in this 4 star restaurant. We were seated at the best table, next to a large picture window looking out at the Frauenkirche. We ate for three hours. The 6 course meal, with three courses of drinks, was spectacular, and the service was the best we experienced since we arrived three months ago. The restaurant gradually filled with a few couples, but the place felt like our own for the evening. We ate like royal guests.
We came home on the tram exhausted, but happy.
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| From 2008_12_25 |
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| From 2008_12_25 |
We hope you all found some happiness during your holiday.
Love to you all from Dresden.
1 comment:
Merry Christmas Brother Eric.
What better gift than to spend the holidays with family. I have enjoyed sharing moments together with you and your family this past year and hope we can keep the momentum up next year.
Brother Alan
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