Dates:      Sunday 24 May to Saturday 30 May
Accommodation: 
Six nights bed and breakfast in the Westin Bellevue. This is a very nice, modern hotel on the banks of the Elbe and looking across to the towers and spires of the old city which is just ten minutes walk away across the old Augustusbrucke.  There will also be a choir dinner on one evening in an old palace in the Altstadt.

Singing:
Concert in the Dreikoenigskirche in Dresden.
A 3 minute slot in the Frauenkirche in Dresden.
A quick number in the chapel in Koenigstein Castle.
A couple of numbers in the St Marienkirche in Pirna.
A quick number in Moritzburg Castle.
Concert in the beautiful St Peterkirche in Goerlitz.
** please note that some of these are still being negotiated.

Activities:
Guided walking tour of Dresden Altstadt.
Guided tour of the Frauenkirche
Day tour of Saxon Switzerland with visits to the Bastei, Koenigstein Castle, Pirna (where Canaletto lived and painted) and a boat trip on the Elbe.
Trip on an old steam railway to Moritzburg and visit to the castle.
Day trip to Goerlitz, a beautiful old town on the Polish border. You can walk across the bridge and visit Poland!

 

Price for the above:  Per person in an double or twin room is around £635, with a single room being £749.

From Cavan Nov 2019:

Most of the arrangements for our visit are now in place.

Just to remind you that the dates are Sunday 24 May to Saturday 30 May.

Money

With some refinement of the programme, negotiation and the current improvement in the state of Sterling, the previously advised cost of the trip will hopefully come down a little.

I have started paying deposits, so I would ask you similarly to arrange a deposit to me. Please arrange to pay £100 per person to me by cheque at the rehearsal on 17^th November or by bank transfer as in email.

Accommodation

Please would you let me know as soon as you can what your room preference is, including any extra nights required. In particular I would ask those who wish to share a twin room to start negotiating with your fellows and then jointly tell me who you will share with. 

Transport

I have been to all the airlines serving Berlin and Dresden asking for a group fare and they came in at anything between £280 and £450, at which point I gave up the idea of our travelling together.. So you need to make your own travel arrangements and I would remind you that fares tend to increase the nearer you get to flight date, so do it soon.  Your choices are legion.

• British Airways    They have lunchtime flights from Heathrow and Stansted to Berlin Tegel. Stansted is much cheaper but strangely there is no return to that airport so you would have to return to Heathrow. The cheapest currently is STN-TXL at 1325 and TXL-LHR at 1645 totalling £145 return including one item of hold baggage.
• Lufthansa    They have similar flights ex Heathrow but rather more expensive. They also offer an arrangement to Dresden, changing planes in Frankfurt but it is expensive.
• Easyjet     They have a 1325 flight to Berlin Schoenefeld and return at 0955 with a total fare of about £180 including a hold bag.
• Ryanair     They are intending to operate Stansted direct to Dresden at 0705 but only on a Saturday, so outbound that would entail an extra hotel night which is no problem to arrange. Current price is around £185.

1.  If you  choose to go via Berlin, onward transport to Dresden is not difficult. There are two possibilities from both Tegel and Schoenefeld:- There are frequent buses from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof and then a train to Dresdner Neustatt which takes about 2 hours. For anyone travelling on one of the lunchtime flights from London there is a handy train at 1846 giving plenty of time to get to the Hauptbahnhof and grab an early supper in the station before the train time. Return fare is about £30 and can be easily pre-booked on the Deutsche Bahn website.
2. Regular bus services go from both Berlin airports to Dresden operated by Flixbus. The journey time is about 2 hours from Schoenefeld and  2 ½ hours from Tegel.  Return fare is about £12 and seats can be booked online direct with Flixbus.

Other      There are some members who have indicated that they may drive or go by train. It is a great idea if you have the extra time and inclination. I will leave you to explore the possibilities.