Day 9 - Dresden, Germany

This was one of those days where we didn't have to travel. We haven't had too many of those days and this on was really welcome. It was a leisurely morning with breakfast at the Dresden Corps pretty much whenever you wanted it between 7:00 am and 10:00 am. Then, we all met at the corps to see what kind of sightseeing we could do from the coach.

Some of you may realize that President Obama chose to be in Dresden today, too. That meant we were a little bit limited in the places we could visit. Although the corps tried there was just no way we were going to be let anywhere close to the area where he was going to be. Of course the area he was in was some of the most interesting places. But Major Jim Garrington was able to direct our coach driver so that we did get to see quite a bit. Some of it was only from the bus but we did manage to get off of the bus and walk along the Elbe River. We were on the opposite bank from where the President was and we ran into plenty of security details. At one point we were stopped by some mounted policemen. They eventually allowed us to pass but we only went another 100 yards or so before the next contingent of police turned us back. There were others allowed through but I guess our group drew too much attention.

It was interesting to see the police presence in town. I heard that as many as 4,000 police were in town and they were very visible. To our knowledge there were no security issues. Even on the plaza we played at across later in the day all of the man hole covers and sewage grates were sealed with appeared to be yellow lane marker tape.

After our tour we returned to the corps for lunch and then changed into our uniforms for an afternoon outdoor concert. The location of the concert had to be changed at the last minute but it worked out fine with many people passing by to hear us and to talk to German Salvationists who accompanied us. The bandmaster of the Berlin band even took the baton for one number.

Prior to the evening concert at Annenkirche we were treated to a lovely dinner in a city restaurant. The evening concert went well and we were very well received.

We've now returned to our rooms and we will depart bright and early in the morning. As I said in my Twitter it was another blessed day.

Good night