Theirs is an epic story of resilience and rebirth to play out ahead of your night at the Dresden Semperoper.
Twice destroyed by fire and once by water the Semperoper looks every inch the Renaissance classic erected in 1841.
Only this is the second opera house, the original having been destroyed in a blaze in 1869.
And then by Allied bombers targeting Saxony at the end of the Second World War.
All of which I know and more from my freunde and guide, see I was listening Ingrid.
Dresden’s reputation as the Florence of the Elbe alas did not preserve it from Allied Bombers.
Despite the convention that cities of culture should be immune.
Feather touches
Dresden’s renaissance, brick by brick, fresco by fresco, makes it the perfect pick.
For your Institute for Cultural Travel mini-break.
Billed as The Magic of Dresden: A Three-Night Cultural Escape, your delve into history and opera comes in at from €1495pps for April 27.
You’ll arrive from Dublin on your Ryanair flight in Berlin early on your first day in Berlin.
And your guide will drive you the two hours down the road to Baroque palace and moated castle, Moritzburg.
If it’s hunting trophies and ornate gilt leather tapestries that’s your thing then Moritzburg is the place for you.
Never mind the famed Feather Room, adorned with over a million coloured ticklers… followed by lunch in a local restaurant.
The stage is set
You’ll stay the next three nights being wined and dined and sleeping the night off at the Hilton Dresden.
But maybe pace yourself as you’ve 700 years of history to walk through and that Verdi opera at the Semperoper.
Admire the graceful Augustus Bridge and the magnificent Residenzschloss, one of the city’s oldest and most historic buildings.
Your guide will take you to the historic Sophienkeller restaurant for pre-opera dinner and drinks.
Before taking your category 1 seats for La Traviata.
Culture vultures will delight in the next morning’s trip to the Old Masters Picture Gallery.
In the 19th-century Semper Building at the Zwinger, restored after seven years of renovation.
Answer to our prayers
And Dresdenophiles will advise that you visit the Frauenkirche and Martin Luther will point you in the right direction.
Of course, whatever you miss you can come back and see the next day.
Before your guide takes you back to Berlin and onwards to Dublin.
