german_eagle's VirtualTourist Home Page

I am not sick with the wisdom tooth problems anymore. Even if I were, I would not care. As a compensation for enduring the tooth and whatever aches I treated myself to a ticket for the premiere of RIGOLETTO at Dresden's Semper Opera house. And what a treat it was!

First off, a premiere is alwas special. I love the atmosphere, there is electricity in the air. People use to dress up for opera in Dresden, but this night my jaw dropped and almost hit the floor. Wow.

Big stars of the night were - no, not Juan Diego Florez - Diana Damrau and Zeljko Lucic. Both were out of this world. We almost knocked down the house with the applause. Frenetic applause after some of the famous arias and at the end it was a good 20 minutes of standing ovations.

Florez was excellent, but I don't think the Duke of Mantua is exactly *his* role. I also thought he had a bit of a problem with the volume of his voice which surprised me since the Semperoper is a small opera house compared to the Met where he had huge success recently. Anyway, I need to mention that the rest of the cast was superb as well. The chorus - great, the other soloists excellent, Luisi conducted wonderfully, the orchestra was top (no surprise here!).

I also liked the staging and costumes. Modern, but good.

Oh, one last comment with regards to a friend in NYC: I *did* have weak knees after Lucic singing 'Pieta, pieta'. Reminded me pretty much of the Tibbett recording. Unbelievable emotions in his voice.

Picture front row:
Luisi, Zeppenfeld, Florez, Lehnhoff (Director), Damrau, Lucic, Mayer

From 2 July to 16 July I will be in Switzerland, in Sils in the Engadin. It's one of my favourite places in the world and I am so happy I found a great deal on a nice hotel: www.hotel-edelweiss.ch

I plan to do a lot of hiking, fine dining, include some cultural activities like concerts, museums etc. and I hope to explore some neighbouring regions like the Valtellina/Italy and Chur.

No idea if I'll have free or inexpensive internet access there, so don't expect me to be around here much. I'll try to check in from time to time, though.

See ya soon!

I am glad I found the VT website. It is fun to (virtually and/or personally) meet people from all over the world. It broadens one's mind and helps to prevent/reduce stereotypes and prejudices. (Well, sometimes it might happen that you find stereotypes to be proved :-))

I am grateful for all the tips, advice and recommendations given on VT. Most of them are very helpful.

I was born in East Germany, 20 years before the wall came down. This means that travelling as a teenie was limited to Eastern Europe. So I could not visit some of the most favourite spots like Paris, London, Florence etc. at this age. But to be honest - I didn't really miss them. For example, I travelled quite often to Prague (only a three-hour drive) and found it to be much more romantic and charming than it is now, though restored, with all the tourist crowds.

My parents dragged me around East Germany and these East European countries a couple of times each year. It must have been their preference of mountains which had let my addiction to beautiful scenery grow.

After travelling Spain, Italy and Greece in the early 90s as a student I went to Switzerland in 1993 and immediately fell in love with it. So I travelled this country excessively during the last ten years. You won't find a lot of pages of Switzerland, though, because I had no digital camera at this time. Well, my addiction to Switzerland is still there, but due to business reasons I had to reduce my vacations there this year. In spite of that I started to explore Germany, especially East Germany and the region where I live - Saxony. I was surprised to find so many wonderful small towns, fascinating works of art and beautiful scenery, which I had no idea they would exist.

When visiting my pages you will very soon notice that I am a fan of architecture, art and culture. Aside of that nature - scenic views. Most of my Must See Tips are on such sights. I am probably biased being so fortunate to live in a jewel of a city - Dresden, which is famous for its architectural sights and art collectionsas well as lovely landscape, but also for the tragedy of the destruction in an air raid 13/14 February 1945. So far my Dresden page does list plenty of "Must See Tips" and "Off The Beaten Path Tips", some other helpful tips on restaurants and stuff, but relatively few insider tips for nightlife and cheap accommodation. I plan to add such tips soon, so please be patient and visit the site again later.

You will also notice that most of the places for which I have built pages are located in the vicinity of Dresden. My intention is to show VTers the beauty of the region where I live, the East Germany state (Bundesland) Saxony. In my opinion you cannot do justice to Dresden and/or Saxony with a visit of only two days or so. See my Land Sachsen page for suggestions where to go.

When it comes to travelling we all have our - different - preferences. One goes to a beach to relax and have fun, others rush like a whirlwind through cities and countries (If it's Tuesday it must be Belgium :-)).

I hate packing/unpacking, check in/out a hotel. Driving in a city is a hassle for me. When travelling to other countries I am trying to dive into that different culture as far as I can. My pace gets slower while on vacation ... Food is absolutely important. I don't mind to have a wurst or sandwich during the day, but no fast food chains!

I use to stay more than only a couple of days in one place and do day trips from there, preferrably by public transportation. Ecology is important to me - please do take care of mother nature, my fellow travellers!

Before going on vacation I try to get as much information as I can. Guide books, internet sites, personal recommendations etc. are my sources. That also means that in return you may get plenty information from me about places I have been to.