I have been fortunate in getting into very comfortable lodgings, having two rooms and as much firing as I chuse for eight Reichsthalers per month.  Coffee is made for me at home in the morning, and I generally dine and sup at a restaurant close by near the bridge.  The Platz in the Neustadt is close to my lodgings, and being very large and well paved and lined with trees, it affords a very agreeable promenade.  Rows of elegant houses line the sides of this Plata, among which the Stadthaus is particularly remarkable.  The famous Japan Palace, as it is called, is also in the Neustadt, and but a short distance from the Platz.  The gardens of Count Marcolini afford also a pleasant promenade; but by far the most agreeable walk, in my opinion, is on the Zwinger, a sort of terrace on the left bank of the Elbe in the old town, adjoining the palace and gardens of Count Bruhl.  From this place you have a noble view of a long reach of the Elbe.  It is besides the favorite promenade of the ladies.  On the Zwinger too is a building containing a fine collection of paintings.  Here are cafes likewise and a restaurant.  The evening promenades are in the gardens of the Linkischer Bad (Bath of Link) on the banks of the Elbe, where there is a summer theatre.  This is the favourite resort of the bourgeoisie on Sundays and jours de fete; gouters and supper parties are formed here and very good music is heard.  The Elbe bridge is of beautiful structure, and there is a good regulation with respect to those who pass over this bridge; which is that one side of the bridge is reserved for those going from the new to the old town, and the other side for those going from the old to the new town, and if you attempt to go on the wrong side you are stopped by a sentry, so that there is no jostling nor lounging on this bridge.  An arch of this bridge was blown up by Marshal Davoust in order to arrest the progress of the Russians, and a great deal of management was necessary to effectuate it, for the worthy Saxons have a great veneration for this bridge, and in order to inforce the execution of this resolution on the part of the Marshal, the personal order of the King and the employment of Saxon troops were necessary.  It has been rebuilt since, and no one would know that the arch had ever been blown up, but from the extreme whiteness of the new arch, contrasting with the darker color of the old ones.

In the old town or Dresden proper, the finest buildings are:  the Catholic church, standing near the bridge, an edifice yielding in beauty but to few in Italy and to none in other countries.  Here you hear excellent music during the church service; and the King and Royal family, all of whom are Catholics, attend constantly.  The Royal Palace is very near the church and not far from it is the theatre.  Saxony being a Lutheran country, the public exercise of the Catholic religion was not permitted until Napoleon’s