Tour Report: The Devil's Bridge

Not really an abandoned place, this bridge had long been on my list of places that I want to visit, and during our summer vacation in 2017, the day finally came.
It was day seven of our vacation. The day before, we had picked up my mother-in-law from the train station in Dresden, because we had invited her to spend a couple of days with us and maybe explore one or two spots.
After we unexpectedly had successfully gained access to the abandoned knight's manor, we drove North towards the Rhododendron park where the bridge is located.
Unfortunately, it started raining a little on the way - and we had hoped for some sunlight so the famous reflection of the bridge would show up nicely...
As we arrived, the rain had stopped, but the sky was still cloudy when we started our walk through the park. No matter. The bridge and the surrounding elements as well as the park itself were really beautiful, and we started taking photos right away.
The only annoying thing were the groups of tourists which apparently had no intention of letting anyone take photos except themselves and kept running in front of the camera in the most impossible situations.
But it turns out that these tourists, who couldn't wait to take their photos and be on their way again, actually did us a service by stalling us, because after a while, the sun came out and we did get the photos that we had come for.
And we were lucky with our overall timing as well, because in 2018, the pond was drained to conduct extensive repairs on the bridge.
So all things considered, this was a very successful little photo opportunity at (to me) one of the most beautiful places in the world.


To check out all the photos from this place and to find out about its history, click the button below.

Tour Report: Knight's Manor "Friendly Neighbor"

I had come across this former knight's manor in deepest Saxony while planning the summer tour 2017 together with my wife. We didn't have high hopes to gain access.
Located on a street corner in the middle of a residential area, partly surrounded with a stone wall - it didn't look like there was any chance of entering this place. But since it was on the way, of course we drove by to check it out
It looked just as we had expected - no chance to get inside.

At the end of the street, some neighbors were gathered around a workbench and apparently discussed ongoing construction on one of their homes. Asking won't hurt, I thought, and I went over to the people, introduced myself politely and asked if they knew if it was possible to enter the old manor house to take some photos.
To my great surprise, the answer was, "That might be possible, ask the lady across the street." Said and done - I went to the house right across the street, rang, and a lady of about 65 years opened the doot. Again, I introduced myself and asked for access to the manor.
Her answer: "Oh sure! Wait  a moment while I get the key from my husband."
Wow.
Just like that! Were we in, and she left us alone. After about 5 minutes, she came back, because she had probably become a little unsure with two strangers in the house, and she asked us a little further what we actually planned to do with the pictures etc.
During the conversation that followed, it turned out that about 5 years before our visit, she and her husband had received the key from the then 80-year-old owner from somwhere farther away with the request to watch over the house. Since then, the owner hadn't been heard from or seen again, and no one knows what happened to him.

Anyway, the lady herself had also been a resident of one of the apartments that had been built into the manor during the time of the German separation and, she was able to tell us a lot about it.

And the moral of the story: Once again, it tunred out that an open and friendly demeanour sometimes does lead to the goal - and that in fact friendly neighbors do exist!


To check out all the photos from this place and to find out about its history, click the button below.

Tour Report: Chemical Laundry G.

Only a few minutes down the street from the capacitor factory, we found the remains of another factory. During our planning phase, we had decided to check this one out as well, although it didn't look as promising as the capacitor factory - but if it's this close, who are we to let this explore pass us by?
During the research, I couldn't really find out much about this place. From what I discovered, there were at least two companies active on the premises - but I don't know if it was at the same time (at least for some years) or if one followed the other.
What I know is that at one point this was a factory for fire extinguishing equipment, and later, it was used as a chemical laundry. Both uses were backed up by some finds we made during our explore.

As I've said, it was really hot, so we took the car to transport our gear to the next spot. When we arrived, it was easy to find a spot to park - there are apartment buildings right next door and a parking lot along part of the fence. We chose a parking spot more or less right in front of a big hole in the fence, waited until there were no people in sight, and we slipped in...

The place was nicely overgrown. We had to squeeze ourselves through bushes and trees to get to the buildings. Besides the nature and some rooms with rather nice decay, we didn't find too many interesting sights to see, although we took our time checking out everything we could find without being seen from the office building that's adjacent to the old factory.

But when we were done, we did take the short way out - a quick jump over the fence to the office buildings, a few confused looks from the workers on the parking lot there, and we walked along the street back to the car and drove off :)


To check out all the photos from this place and to find out about its history, click the button below.