Four Points Dresden

Advantages: Very clean, great service
Disadvantages: A little way out of the main tourist area

...Four Points by Sheraton Konigshof, Dresden Kreischaer Strasse 2, 01219 Dresden We stayed in this hotel August 2007 for a two night stay in Dresden. We booked the hotel direct through their internet site. http://starwoodhotels.com/fourpoints/property/overview/index.html?prope rtyID=1304 We managed to get a special offer room for 60 euros per night and were very surprised to end up in the Hochzeit zimmer, or honeymoon room. Location The only difficulty we had was with the location of the hotel, we should have looked into this before arriving in Dresden to make sure we knew where we were going as we were using public transport, and the hotel was out of the main city centre. The hotel is situated on the Altstadt side of the Elbe, were the Zwinger and opera house are. We took the tram to get to the hotel it took about 10...

craftinessa 27.09.2007 (09.09.2007) · Read review
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Review of Four Points by Sheraton Königshof, Dresden

Dresden Saxony. Baroque high tech and dream food

Advantages: Great arts and history, nice people, great food
Disadvantages: Weather (sometimes, still better than most uf the UK ;-)

...Dresden has to offer a lot! Especially if you consider to take a dive into German history, enjoy the arts and fine cuisine (yes, Saxony is the only German place for fine and not too heavy food). After the wall came down in 1989, Saxony went back to the roots of the old kingdom (August the Strong or Augustus I has been king of Saxony from the late 17th century) by naming Dresden the capital of Saxony and trying to restore as many as possible treasures that have suffered under the former communist regime and many wars before that time (7 year war late 18th century, Napoleon's occupation in 1815 and the second world war with massive bombings by the allies). See this great, brief historic wrap-up of the city at: http://members.tripod.com/scapin1/page2.htm. Another great web site gives a complete picture of the history of Dresden...

NoMeansNo 09.05.2001 · Read review
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Review of Dresden (Germany)

A LOT OF LUXURY FOR NOT TOO MANY EUROS

Advantages: Value for money. Sparkling clean. Superb food.
Disadvantages: Noisy trams if you get the wrong room.

...An apology for boring you all with yet another travel / hotel review, but hopefully this one will be just a little different, due to our initial and entirely unscheduled discovery of this particular hotel. Indeed you could say that the room here fell into the "panic purchase" category. We needed a room for the night in Dresden and the Astron (as the NH was then called) had one available. In actual fact more importantly than us, my then fiancée and I, needing a bed for the night, it was essential that we found secure parking for the car. The circumstances, you need to understand, both personally and on the global stage leading up to our very first stay in Dresden were to say the least, slightly unusual. The purpose of our journey was one of those once in a lifetime, life changing events. I had driven out to Poland ten days earlier...

RICHADA 16.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of NH, Dresden

No, no, NO Virginia!

Advantages: There really are a couple of stunning tracks and it is essentially the same Dolls sound
Disadvantages: You get the impression that many of the tracks are recycled versions of better songs...

...The Dresden Dolls are one of those amazing bands that are hard to categorize; not in the case of HIM where I lazily describe their genre as 'gothic' for the sake of it. The band from Boston, Ma are a bit different to all of that and instead of being gothic, the Dresden Dolls created their own genre for themselves, namely Brechtian punk cabaret. No idea what it means but it looks good on a computer screen! Technically, lead singer, pianist and songwriter Amanda Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione aren't together as the Dresden Dolls anymore. Well at least for the moment. Being on a sabbatical, in which Palmer decided to self indulge herself senseless with her solo debut 'Who Killed Amanda Palmer?' and Brian continued to work on his drumming, having lectured at some pretty prestigious Universities across America, fans were left to...

MizzMolko 18.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of No Virginia [Digipak] - Dresden Dolls (The)

Yes, Yes, Yes Virginia!

Advantages: Much more polished, mature and awe inspiring sound
Disadvantages: Maybe too different for some listeners to appreciate

...The Dresden Dolls self titled debut album was a real burst of adrenaline in the stagnant alternative music scene; it's combination of raunchy yet raw lyrics with powerful drums and crazy piano melodies made it a very unforgettable listen, an album that I shall take to my grave as one of my all time favourites. So when I got the follow up album 'Yes Virginia' for my last birthday, I was curious, excited and even a little sceptical; I'd never heard any of the songs before hand so was completely unsure of what I was going to be gracing my ears with. Then, their was my ever present bout of cynicism that doubted that the band could make a second album with at least the same amount of promise and aptitude as their first. How wrong could I possibly have been? The album starts with 'Sex Changes', a positively wacky bundle of energy in...

MizzMolko 25.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Yes Virginia - Dresden Dolls (The)

'Many shapes and weights to choose from'?

Advantages: A fantastically unique album with such passionate performances via a piano and drum kit
Disadvantages: A little two different, the last four tracks let the first eight down considerably

...I am known at least a little for my somewhat bizarre taste in music. I'm not big into the R&B or rap genres but I do like my stuff to be a bit quirky and have a good edge to them. Step forward the American band, The Dresden Dolls, comprised of lead singer/pianist Amanda Palmer and the multi talented Brian Viglione, who mainly plays the drums for the two piece. The reason why they are for the most part unique is because of the fact that there are just two of them; unlike The White Stripes, they lack a guitarist or indeed a bassist so their sound is intensely focused on the piano and percussion instruments. Whilst this gives them their intriguing style, the band refer to their style as being 'Brechtian Punk Cabaret' as a ploy to avoid the world 'gothic' being used as a way to describe them. However, in spite of that, it's extremely...

MizzMolko 24.06.2008 (10.02.2007) · Read review
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Review of Dresden Dolls, The [Digipak] [ECD] [PA] - Dresden Dolls (The)

Not in the same league as the previous novels

Advantages: Continues the plot, the depth/strength of characters, the humour
Disadvantages: Not as good as the others but i can't quite place way

...If anyone's read my previous reviews on Jim Butchers fantasy-crime series "The Dresden Files", they will be aware that I'm very close to being obsessed and addicted. Each novel appears to be better than the last. However, the moment has come. Butcher has produced a book that doesn't follow the order, and I have found that Death Rites is my least favourite novel of the series. I'm no quite sure why I don't like it as much as the previous ones. It has the sharp tongue-in-cheek humour, the adventure, the mystery, the well structured and wrote characters, but still I was slightly disappointed. And that's even with the return of 4 of the best written characters: Susan, Marcone, Thomas and Michael. Death Masks links on from the previous novels, so heres a quick summary of the Plot-So-Far: Harry Dresden went to a vampire ball...

super-t 06.10.2007 (05.10.2007) · Read review
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Review of Death Masks (Dresden Case Files) - Jim Butcher

"Polka Will Never Die!!" Thomas sighed. "True"

Advantages: Everything.
Disadvantages: It ends.

...(Spoilers for the previous books) I think I've mentioned in a previous review that the 8th to be my favourite. Guess what? This is the review for the 8th book, so I had to re-read it. For an accurate representation to anyone wanting to buy it, you must understand. What a pity. With its über witty, full-action plot synonymous with any of Jim Butchers books, Dead Beat would be anyone's favourite. Once again the author, Jim Butcher, has excelled himself. Harry Dresden, the wizard private detective, is on top form - obviously discovering a half-brother makes you a more amusing, rounded character. The series tag line on the cover is "Magic - it can get a guy killed." Well, in Dead Beat, it can bring the dead guy back. In the previous novels, Dresden has encountered werewolves, vampires (and started a war with them) and fallen...

super-t 07.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Dead Beat (Dresden Case Files) - Jim Butcher

A Rite Bloody Good Read

Advantages: The whole book, the after-glow once finished
Disadvantages: Addictive, may hurt ribs when laughing, need to buy the next in series

...I was slightly dubious after reading Death Masks that this book would be of the same quality as the first 3 novels in the Dresden Files series. Within the first chapter, i was relieved....and glue to the book and chair. It was a wonder i didn't get a detention for missing the homework due in that i should have been doing instead of reading. I'll give you two reasons why the first chapter would hook someone: 1) Thomas the White Court Vampire is back after helping Harry Dresden out in the duel in the last book, and 2) a box of cute dogs, namely a notched ear puppy! However, its the next goodness-knows how many chapters that keep you glued to it. If you've read any of the Dresden Files series, then you would know that the books are 1st person narratives by Harry Dresden, private detective and the only wizard advertised in...

super-t 07.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Blood Rites (Dresden Case Files) - Jim Butcher

Just Sing

Advantages: Full of amazing and unique songs that only this band could pull off.
Disadvantages: A bit calmer and more mature compared to the previous album.

...The Dresden Dolls are Amanda Palmer (lead vocals and piano) and Brian Vigilone (vocals, drums and guitar). They describe their style as ?Brechtian punk cabaret?, and with dark lyrics and a piano, this is a rather accurate description. ?Yes, Virginia? (which is named after the article in the New York Sun which responded to the question ?Is there a Santa Claus?? with the answer ?Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus?) was originally released in 2006 and is the third album from The Dresden Dolls. The album has some key differences from The Dresden Dolls self-titled previous album. In a way it seems a lot more mature as there is less of the bizarre punk cabaret listeners became accustomed to in the previous album. Instead of featuring tracks which are more like darker children?s stories, this album seems a lot easier to relate to...

xradishx 19.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of Yes Virginia - Dresden Dolls (The)