Last Friday I once again visited Dresden only because I wanted to see the Grüne Gewölbe. Last time when I was in Dresden I didn’t have time for this luxury baroque era treasure collection. It was a pity. Therefore I decided then that I must some time visited the Saxony capital again. Plus last time in Dresden the weather was not very good. I guessed if this time if the weather is good, I could have a better taste of this city.

I had to say the museum shocked me. The first thing that strike me was the level of security in the museum. At the entrance of the museum there are two very thick glass doors. The security person checked my ticket, scanned her card, and entered some thing on a machine near the doors, and the first lass door opened itself. But the second door didn’t open. I went pass the first glass door, then standing between the two doors, when the first glass door closed. Now I was left alone in this very tiny space between the two glass doors. When I was about to panic, the second door opened. Then I could entered the museum. It was just like some strange lab in the movies where people have to pass several security check like these two glass gates here. When I was trapped in between the doors I somehow thought bout that and I felt amused, as if I was in a movie scene.

The treasure exhibited here are far beyond my expectation. It is dizzily shining place, with numerous treasuries made of ivory, silver, gold and other precious materials of that time. In the ivory room, there was a table in front of the window. Several ivory decorations stand on the table. The calm orange evening sunshine walked through the window and lay on the table and the ivory items. The ivories and the table thus illuminated a sense of glory and luxury of Saxony rulers in the 18 century.  And the golden room, one of the climax of the museum tour, is even more luxurious. The mirrors on the walls, the oil paintings near windows give a feeling that the room is endless. It was a pity that photos are not allowed in this place, or I would at least have som image memory of this beautiful place. It WAS worth a visit. The luxury reminded me of the royal palace in Beijing, China, called 圆明园 ( Yuanmingyuan Impeial Palace), which is a incredibly huge place for treasures, even larger than the green vault here in Dresden. The fate of theses two places were somehow similar: both were destroyed in war, though the green vault was rebuilt, and the Chinese palace remained in relics.

After visiting the museum I had dinner at a traditional saxony style restaurant with traditional saxony style settings of the 18 century. After that I went to the old bridge to enjoy a view of the Elbe river bank and the old town. The weather was particularly good. It was the time of sunset, and the light piercing through thick clouds was simply glorious. It was much more beautiful than when I visited last time. It seemed weather does matter to one’s travel experience.