Picspam: Saxon Switzerland in the fog

[dieastra]

I've shown you pictures of this beautiful landscape that's only about half an hour by train away from Dresden, in Summertime before. But these pictures - specially posted for my new friend topum - show the same place in December 2014, on a very rainy and foggy day. It made for beautiful pictures, the kind that you can find in calendars. Please have a look under the cut! Enjoy!



The way up! Usually I take my friends up by bus and we walk down, but we had missed the bus and it was the last one for the day. We went up rather late, it already was about 3 PM. We met some people coming down. In Summer it is full of tourists up there because of the easy access, but at this time of the year we were almost alone and it was really like in a fairytale!





That's the river Elbe down there. During many millions of years it carved its way through the sandstones. You arrive by train at the other side and then have to use a small ferry.









What you see here used to be a medieval fortress, all the way up on top of the rock. Nothing much is left of it, but you can still see the holes where the wooden beams used to be, and the fountain and some other things built from stone. You can walk around and there are plates with explanations everywhere. There's also a model I need to show you yet aletheiafelinea!



The next picture shows the "Bastei bridge". One of the first touristy spots, built in 1851. Even Microsoft has chosen it for one of its background pictures in Windows. We're famous!!!













Look how this tree has grown from the rock! Amazing.





I wonder how they can even survive up there?













This is a famous painting by Caspar David Friedrich. There is a so called "Painter's walk" where along the way they have plates with paintings, exactly at the spot they were painted. You can see how much the trees have grown since:



I just showed you the previous picture to show what you WOULD see here ;)



But then all of a sudden the fog cleared away:



Here's the rest of the story. My timetable had told me that at 6 PM the last bus would be going down and I was determined to get it. We warmed up a little in the restaurant up there, and then went to the station. By then it was pitch black. The station was a bit away from the restaurant and the hotel. There was one lonely lantern but otherwise we were in the middle of the black wood. I've never seen it so dark before. If that bus hadn't come there was no way we would be able to go down again, not seeing where we went. But luckily, it came ;) That was quite an adventure.

Comments

[geekslave.livejournal.com]

Really pretty pics - especially the trees coming out of the rocks!

Stacey

[topum.livejournal.com]

This is spectacular.

[hiddleasaurus.livejournal.com]

Great pictures! I would love to see that place someday. :)

Harry and Lucy took Bern? Noooo! :(

[heather mccrillis (from livejournal.com)]

Nice to see they've put convenient branches on that mountain for folks to hang around should someone like Harkness would drop in. #safetysoonerorlater

[sharp2799.livejournal.com]

Breathtaking.

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous. I was thinking halfway through scrolling that it had a Caspar David Friedrich feel -- and then, bingo! Thanks for sharing!

[arashinoookami]

Wow, so pretty! The rocks look like something out of the Avatar movie.

[celeste9]

Ooh, these pictures are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, awesome! :) I love the crooked trees and the photo with Elba through wet twigs. Really neat composition! And the Painter's walk is a wonderful idea.

There's also a model I need to show you
*perks ears" Oh?

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

How nice to be there without all the tourists! Sounds like it got a bit scary at the end, before your bus came!

[fueschgast]

Wow, such prettiness!

I had no idea there's a Windows wallpaper of the bridge!

That photo above "I wonder how they can even survive up there?" looks so familiar. From a Caspar David Friedrich painting maybe? Or maybe it just reminds me of his style.

Ha, and then you mention the guy. I didn't remember that they have signs with infos on paintings of the view there.

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

Those are beautiful.

[malice-n-wonder.livejournal.com]

Wow! These are gorgeous!

[alumfelga.livejournal.com]

Beautiful place and beautiful photos. The tree that grew from the rock and it's meters and meters over the ground looks amazing. So this is where film crews go when they need a scene with a car on a tree, over a cliff!

[niviene.livejournal.com]

These are incredibly beautiful...really love the fog! Makes me want to visit some day just to see/experience it for myself :)