Time in Saxony

I recently had an opportunity I couldn't refuse: an invitation to travel to Dresden, Germany.  My friend Jay was invited by the watch manufacturer A. Lange & Söhne to tour their production facilities in Glashütte, just south of Dresden.  I was Jay's "plus one".  And the trip was a watch-nerd's dream.

Along the shore of the Elbe River

The 7:15am view from my hotel window: the clock shown here chimed at 7am, a pleasant way to wake!  It is in the tower of the Dreikönigskirche.

I love German hotel breakfasts with cured meats, strong coffee, Müsli, and best of all the soft-boiled egg or Frühstücksei.  At this hotel, the egg came capped with this cute gnome hat.

The Dresden Frauenkirche.  Until just 10 or fewer years ago, the church and buildings on this square were still ruins from the February, 1945 bombing of Dresden.  The dark stones are from the rubble: the light colored stones are new.

The Dreikönigskirche during the daytime hours.

Jay and Matt waiting for our tour of the Grünes Gewölbe, the Green Vault of the jewels of the Saxon kings.

We also toured the famed Semperoper, Semper Opera house, where, for us, the highlight was the Five Minute Clock, which you can see here near the bottom of the photo, showing 3:45.

The tower of the Schloß Weesenstein, where we lunched before touring the Lange factory.

The fleet of chauffeured black Audis that carried us from place to place.  The drivers angled to get Jay and me as passengers- seemingly few members of the group spoke German and the drivers spoke only rudimentary English.

On the factory tour with the president of Lange's North American office, Gaetan.

At the end of the tour, they presented many of the production models for us to inspect and try on for size.

Saxonia Annual Calendar in white gold.

1815 Up/Down in white gold.

Datograph Up/Down in platinum.

I really liked the Datograph.