November 30-Frankfurt: Arrived in Frankfurt terminal 2 at 5:30 pm from a connection in Heathrow. Took the bus to the train station, picked up Euro's at a Deutsche Bank ATM on the recommendation of Ms. Jo. Bought my ticket for the S Bahn train to the main station, upon arrival at the main station walked to the Premiere Inn.
December 1-Frankfurt: Purchased the D-ticket on the MVV app, it starts today, thank you Carol, so all local and regional transport tickets taken care of for the rest of my trip. First stop was the TI office at the Romer to purchase the museum card. Right outside the office was David, from Frankfurt On Foot, for the morning tour. There were a total of 10, including six from California going on a Christmas Market river cruise. It was a brisk 25 degrees and all participants dressed appropriately. After the tour I spent the next three hours at the Stadal museum, that was excellent and empty.
December 2-Frankfurt: Spent the morning at the Jewish Museum. For the afternoon took the S Bahn to Mainz and visited the Gutenberg Museum, afterwards walked around the Christmas Market in Mainz. Canceled my flix bus ticket for tomorrow, since the trains are not on strike.
December 3-Erfurt: Purchased DB trains tickets in advance and traveled to Erfurt. The ICE train was sold out and was glad I made a seat reservation, it was only running 20 minutes behind schedule. Upon arrival dropped my suitcase off at the Prizeotol and walked to Topf & Sons, A Place of Remembrance, was the only person there, and spent over two hours going through an excellent exhibit. The exhibit has no admission charge. Afterwards took the tram to Merchants Bridge, walked to the Christmas Market, and returned to my hotel and checked in around 6 pm. To my delight, the tv had Apple Play, so I logged into my satellite provider via a VPN on my phone and streamed the NFL games to the TV.
December 4-Weimar: Took the Regional Train to Weimar, they scanned my D-ticket and asked for my passport on the way there, but did not check the passport on the return. Visited the fairly new Bauhaus Museum and it was excellent. Since today was Monday, most other attractions were closed, but I had visited them almost 25 years ago on a prior visit to Weimar. Had a late lunch and walked around the Christmas Markets in Weimar. I canceled my flix bus ticket for tomorrow, since the trains are still running.
December 5-Dresden Morning train from Erfurt to Dresden arriving around noon, purchased the Dresden Museum Card at the TI in the train station. I was in Dresden in January 2020 and the Zwinger was closed for renovation and the Historic Green Vault was closed because of the robbery, so they are my must do visits. Walked to the Hyperion Hotel, checked in, walked over to the Zwinger and spent three hours at the Old Masters Gallery, it was excellent. On the way over, walked through a Christmas market and had a wonderful potato soup with a sausage. The museum was buzzing with school groups. Stopped and bought my timed ticket for the Original Green Vault for tomorrow morning.
December 6- Dresden: Walked across the street for my timed entry to the Historic Green Vault, listened to the audio guide, and enjoyed it. You have to go through a decontamination sweep when entering, reminded me of entering Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Visited the Mathematical and Physical Instruments, and Porcelain Collection at the Zwinger, it was a quick visit for both. Ended the day seeing a fascinating exhibition at the Albertinum titled Revolutionary Romances, that looked at the art world in Dresden under the GDR and the collaborative it had with other communist countries, whose artist came and studied in Dresden. Learned that there is a train strike on Friday, my travel day to Berlin. It looks like I will use one of my backup Flix bus tickets.