1936 On the Continent

Dresden are so world-famed that it seems unnecessary for me to enumerate them. First and foremost is the beautiful Zwinger, considered the finest Baroque building in Germany. In some of the large wings various museums are now housed. The celebrated Dresden picture gallery is close to the Zwinger and is regarded as one of the most important collections in the world.
    However, my first pilgrimage was, of course, to the Sistine Madonna, which is the greatest treasure of them all, but with my unaccustomed pen I cannot compete with all that has been written by experts about this work and the others contained in the Dresden gallery.
    No town is so convenient for a hurried visit as Dresden, for everything of importance lies more or less close together. Thus the Grüne Gewölbe, with its glittering gems and the crown jewels of the Saxon kings, is in close proximity to the Zwinger. The castle, formerly the royal palace, was restored at the end of last century, but the restoration has been happily carried out in German Renaissance style.
    The same atmosphere of distinction which is felt here in the neighbourhood of the castle, permeates also the principal streets with their glittering shops which, in my opinion, are certainly among the most beautiful I have yet seen. Perhaps this is partly because the Dresden shopkeepers take our taste into account. Not only is English spoken everywhere and. English notices shown, but the goods are in the main of a quality which appeals to us. Of course, one sees a lot of Dresden and Meissner china, as the factories in the Hauptstrasse have their own tasteful shops.
Dresden: Music and Excursions
    The musical life of Dresden, famous in the past from the activities here of Richard Wagner and Johann Maria Weber, is worthily carried on by the Dresden Opera, which with the Berlin Opera is the foremost in Germany. The Richard Strauss performances especially bring music-lovers from far and near to the Saxon capital. Every year there are special Festival Weeks at the Dresden Opera.
    I spent one of my most delightful evenings on the Brühlschen Terrace where, on the bank of the Elbe surrounded by the beautiful works of man and fanned by the cool winds coming from Sächsichen Schweiz, one can forget all the ugliness in the world. Thus, I forgot the Leipzig War Memorial, which is certainly a landmark in Leipzig, but did not please me at all.
    From Dresden the most delightful excursions can be made by rail; go where you will, the surroundings are everywhere charming. Here is the Weisse Hirsch with the world-renowned sanatorium Lahmann, there the lovely hunting-lodge of the Wettiners, the Moritzburg. In an hour one is in the middle of Sächsichen Schweiz, and along the whole length of the Elbe there are good hotels. Everywhere are the sunny inn terraces, looking out on white river-boats packed with merry excursionists—in short I can well understand why many of my countrymen have chosen Dresden as their second home.
    From Saxony in a few hours I could easily have reached the Thüringerwald, Weimar (Goethe’s town), the Wartburgstadt Eisenach, and the University town of Jena, but I had not time. I got into an aeroplane and was in Berlin an hour later.
Arriving in Berlin
    At the Tempelhof Aerodrome I met Tom Sutton, an old friend I had not seen for eighteen years. He has lived a long time in Berlin, where he represents an English textile factory, and he speaks the inimitable Berlin dialect so perfectly that no one would take him for a foreigner, though he still remains a true Englishman.
    We were both sorry that I could only stay in Berlin five days, but he consoled me with the fact that in four days he had an important conference in Hamburg. At that port we could meet again and spend a couple of pleasant evenings together. During the two days that I would be alone in Berlin, I could look into one or two museums, of all of which he confessed his complete ignorance. The guide-book tells me all about them: apparently they are all situated on the so-called “Museum Island,” Unter den Linden. The National Gallery is there with its collection of old masters, the collection of modernartists in the one-time Crown Prince’s palace, the Pergamon Museum which has a most wonderfully complete collection of copies of antique works of art. And then perhaps the most famous of all, the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum with its world-renowned picture galleries. Besides these, Berlin has more than forty museums, but I shall be