Now for something a bit special. I’ve wanted to visit Amelia in Italy for years. Is it a particularly beautiful town? It might be a nice place, but that’s not my reason – I want to go to Gelateria Girotti. It’s not a particularly award-winning or otherwise special ice-cream parlour, but it’s owned by Mario Girotti, better known as Terence Hill. However, as Amelia is rather inconveniently located, I haven’t managed to go yet, and it looks rather unlikely this year too, despite having two trips to Italy coming up.
Mario Girotti now has an ice-cream parlour not only in Amalia, but also in Dresden. The reason is simple: he spent several years of his childhood in Lommatzsch, near Dresden, where his mother is from.
The ice-cream parlour is just a few metres from the Frauenkirche and is styled as a vegetarian Western saloon.


The ice cream is made according to the salon’s original recipes in Amelia. It’s perfectly decent. Certainly not top-class gelato, but particularly good for Germany.

I can picture an arcade game where you insert a coin and try to slap the face of the head of Trinity before the machine slaps your face!!

This would be a good business idea

In the evening, we went for dinner in Radebeul at Atelier Sanssouci. It is the restaurant run by Stefan Hermann, a well-known chef in Dresden. He also runs Beans & Beluga, which is responsible, amongst other things, for catering at the Semperoper (more on that later) and the Semperoper Ball.
The restaurant is located in an annexe of Villa Sorgenfrei, a charming little hotel.


Here, you dine in a historic 18th-century banquet and garden hall – a truly special venue. The restaurant holds 1 Michelin star.


It was very quiet that Monday evening; apart from us, there was only one other couple dining in the restaurant – it felt a bit too empty.
The set menu. They presented us with the vegetarian set menu straight away; we could have chosen ŕ la carte instead. But we went for the set menu because it looked appealing.




Jerusalem artichoke crisps

We were offered a non-alcoholic pairing, which we accepted. They consisted of homemade drinks and drinks by Jörg Geiger.
Hibiscus, bergamot, raspberry, mint


Amuse bouche

Bread

Roasted carrot on fromage frais with vadouvan and tarragon



That was really tasty; we enjoyed it.


Parsley root soup with Comté crisps and black walnuts



That’s also a very high standard.


Sardinian fregola with fennel. Jam with roasted sunflower seeds and salted lemon



Also very good

Turnip goulash with pickled Roscoff onions, seasoned lamb's lettuce and Gruyčre



I’d expected something different; when you think of goulash, you tend to think of a stew. It was a pleasant surprise.
Earl Grey, agave, yuzu


Roasted pumpkin with confit leeks, pan-fried herb-crusted oyster mushrooms and gravy



Coconut, pineapple, chilli, kaffir lime


Vanilla cake with lychee and guava-passion fruit sorbet


A nice final
Petit fours

The bill

Another lovely dinner – I can recommend this restaurant too.

I hardly need to introduce the Old Masters Gallery; it is one of the richest art collections in the world. It features a wealth of works by Canaletto and Rembrandt, including the *Sistine Madonna*, the *Chocolate Girl*, and much more.

































Of course, the sculpture collection is still there as well.

The second museum in the Zwinger is the porcelain collection. Not surprisingly, quite a collection has been amassed here.















































There is also a second section, the Northern East Asia Gallery. However, it is currently open only from Friday through Sunday; we were there on Tuesday.

Nice photography as usual!

Thank you

The third museum in the Zwinger is the Mathematical-Physical Salon. Recently refurbished, it displays a wide variety of mathematical and astronomical instruments, as well as globes.

The kennels themselves have just been renovated, and some finishing touches are still being carried out. The complex was built for recreational purposes and has hosted many celebrations.












The Nymph Bath isn't quite finished yet.

The former Hofkirche is situated between the palace, the Zwinger and the Semperoper. It is unique in that, in Protestant Saxony, it is a large Catholic church – now the cathedral of the Diocese of Dresden/Meissen. This is because Augustus the Strong converted to Catholicism so that he could become King of Poland.




The interior of the church is brightly lit; of particular note is the memorial altar dedicated to the victims of the air raids, crafted from Meissen porcelain.











As part of a guided tour, you can also visit the royal crypt beneath the church (Augustus the Strong is not buried here; only his heart is). I didn’t do that this time, as I’m already familiar with the crypt from previous visits.

Right next to the Hofkirche is the Fürstenzug. It is a porcelain mural consisting of 23 porcelain tiles (made of Meissen porcelain, of course). It depicts all the Saxon rulers of the Wettin dynasty. Incidentally, the Fürstenzug survived the war quite well; the tiles withstood the fire.

The Frauenkirche is undoubtedly one of Germany’s most famous churches. I can still clearly remember the ruins (the GDR also used these ruins as a memorial) and how the stones were sorted. It has now been a feature of the cityscape again for many years.


The main church interior.




The crypt has also been rebuilt.






I can still clearly remember how watches and similar items were sold to fund the reconstruction.

Next to the Hofkirche and the palace lies the Brühlsche Terrasse.

The Genuss Atelier restaurant has a Michelin star and is located in the basement of a villa by the Waldschlösschen Bridge (yes, the very one that cost Dresden its World Heritage status).



The menu. They were a bit taken aback when I wanted to order the set menu and said they didn’t actually have that many meat-free dishes (well, I count them a bit differently). But I think the real reason was that the kitchen closes at 9.30 pm. A bit odd, but even in the restaurant trade, people don’t want to work until midnight anymore. So we ended up with a 6-course surprise menu.







They came up with a clever idea for the cutlery. Instead of bringing it out every time, there’s a fresh set in a drawer in the table.


Hug without alcohol

Extra-corse: Some oysters (Unfortunately, there are quite a few shards of shell)

Amuse Bouche

Bread (You could also have some extra, but you’d have to pay for that 4,90€)

Spring vegetables, elderberries



Wild herb soup, smoked fish (eel)


Lemonade

Pink Seabream, Aubergine, Salsa Verde


Sea bass, fennel, capers


Raspberry sorbet with (non-alcoholic) sparkling wine



Strawberry, rhubarb


White cocolate

Can´t remember what it was exactly

Chocolates (€2.50 each)

The bill

Another good dinner.