24 June: Rode to Dresden. Got stopped at the German border. The bad news is that they made wait for 15 minutes while they checked out the passport of the American riding a motorcycle from the Chech Republic. The good news is that I discovered that this is a good way to renew a tourist visa.

The last time I was in Dresden was in 2000. At that time, there was an massive old warehouse. There were trees growing on the roof but still a business, Speicher, in the first floor. Today, this has been turned into a luxury hotel. Then I saw the old Turkish Tobacco and checked into a hotel near the train station. Last time I had stayed at the Kipping Hotel on the other side of the station, when Dresden was a more modest town, but it was now full so I had to stay at a modern hotel, which at least had an underground garage for my motorcycle.

25 June: Walked around Dresden, first looking at the reconstruction of the station and the Frauenkirche. Then I checked out and rode to Berlin. On the way there, I hit a detour, but I have never stopped at a road closed sign. And indeed, there was a footpath for the locals around the bridge that was under construction: easy for a motorcycle.

Then I saw a Soviet war memorial. And stopped off at the old Wehrmacht headquarters at Wüsdorf with its massive bunkers and motorcycle museum. I was here back in 1999 before it was open to the public. I have done both that private tour and a later tour of the big bunker that was the former telephone hub for the Berlin region. Now it is kind of fascinating also how some new family apartments have been built with WW II bomb shelters in the front yard.

Then on into Berlin, stopping at an Aral gas station that has a place in the toilet for motorcycle helmets.