Swimming in the location that the Dresden Winter Swimmers swim at. The river is fierce, but just by the Augustus Bridge there is a back eddy which allows calm swimming for a stretch of 200 meters or so - a nice pool within a river. Bernardo Bellotto (nephew of Canaletto) painted the swimming area in 1748. I don't think the painting (in the art museum here) has the right title. The title is very descriptive and proper - Dresden From the Right Bank of the Elbe Above the Augustus Bridge. Which is correct, this is exactly where it is, a very Google Maps kind of title. I would offer something like 'Where to Swim in Central Dresden, a Calm Stretch on the Right Bank of the Augustus Bridge'. This would be a Google Maps kind of title if Google Maps had their swimming priorities right.
Plus a pre-season taster evening at the Dresden Semper Oper. Opera singers taking photos of each other at the very very end. And Wagner - who was here, coming and going, as he did, across the best bits of Europe - his opera 'Tannhauser' was premiered here in 1845. The next day, we cycled upstream out of the city, and found cake (of course), but also a sweet gentle place to dip in an inlet to the River Elbe.