We visited Meissen during our trip to Germany a couple of weekends ago. It was a charming little town in the heart of Saxony. We saw the Meissen Cathedral build in year 1260, as well as the castle build on the same hill which made the cathedral one of the smallest cathedrals in Europe due to lack of space.

But the biggest reason to visit Meissen is porcelain. Local natural deposits of china clay and potters clay made Meissen famous for being the first high quality porcelain maker outside of China. It was due in part thanks to King August II of Poland, who also was the Elector of Saxony, who wanted to copy Chinese porcelain in his own kingdom and hired alchemists to come up with the proper formula. First European porcelain was manufactured in Meissen in 1710. Meissen porcelain is characterized by its signature blue color and a logo with two crossing swords, and as a side note…it’s freaking expensive.

We visited the factory and took a tour that reminded me a lot of the Backdraft back lot tour at Universal Studios. We kept moving from room to room, each showing a different stage of porcelain making. We also saw their private porcelain museum with items up to 200 years old. I wanted to buy a little souvenir, a coffee mug, something-anything made from Meissen porcelain, but honestly I did not have enough cash. A $100 dollars was the lowest price I saw for an tiny espresso cup. You can only imagine how expensive everything else was and how careful we were walking through that place. And by the way, $100 bucks for the espresso cup was the OUTLET price.