My birthday present had been pending for a while. Thommy had given me a trip to Dresden, one of the really beautiful but rather unknown cities in Eastern Germany (although it's gotta be said it's well-known within Germany). Driving towards the East the names of the cities start changing and sounding a bit more slavic or rather unfamiliar for us... We were surprised to see how present the Soviet influence still is but at the same time there has been a MAJOR effort to rebuild this whole city and especially all the sights are completely renovated and nicely refurbished. It's gotta be said most of the tourists were a bit older than we are which may have been caused by the overwhelming amount of cultural sights, starting with Zwinger, an astonishing amount of castles and all sorts of churches and statues - btw almost all of which are somehow related to August der Starke (saxonian king august the strong) who seemed to have been not only super-potent but also super-attention seeking and egocentric.
What we really liked about this place though was the combination of old sights, history and at the same time vibrant, studenty life (especially in Neustadt to which Nika kindly introduced us). Neustadt in Dresden is everything but new by the way- it was founded some time in 1700 but funnily enough it is even called "Sceneviertel" (i.e. the "hip" neighbourhood) on the street signs. Talking to one of the people living in that neighbourhood we were told that it was the only place "livable" in Dresden- sounds a bit harsh to me, especially since we say amazing, huge mansions close to the river Elbe, direction "Blaues Wunder" bridge...
This bridge was fascinating to me because of something I read in the guide- apparently it was supposed to be destroyed before the red army invaded Dresden in 1945 but two brave men cut the cord that was supposed to ignite the dynamite and thus saved one of the few monuments still left after the horrific bombing of Dresden. What was most impressive to me though was how many of the buildings have only recently been reconstructed and the vivid recollection how things must have looked after the war and a long time thereafter for that matter. The Frauenkirche in Dresden is one of the best examples, after the bombing in February 1945 it looked like this - but in an unprecedented effort money has been raised and it now is back to its original beauty but still by using some of the old debris from its ruins it still reminds the visitor strongly of what has happened here.
Right opposite the Frauenkirche we saw the Kulturpalast which looks like a prototype of Soviet architecture and thus completes the recollection of the different eras that this city has lived through. It makes you wonder what sort of monument the visitors in 50 years will connect with our times. What kind of specific style that will seem completely outdated by then?
In any case- Dresden is well worth a visit and the next trip down the Eastern route should defintely take us to Leipzig as well. One more great advantage of the East should be mentioned here as well: it almost seems like a different world in terms of prices- both generally for food, drinks etc. but also for real estate. We briefly considered investing in an old-people's home just across the street from our hotel (would have had a pool as well) but then decided against it as first of all we would run the risk of picking up a weird accent and secondly Thommy's coffee does not seem to have made it all the way to Dresden. But then again- when retiring this may have changed? Will try getting some more pix up here so you can see how pretty the city really is :-)
What we really liked about this place though was the combination of old sights, history and at the same time vibrant, studenty life (especially in Neustadt to which Nika kindly introduced us). Neustadt in Dresden is everything but new by the way- it was founded some time in 1700 but funnily enough it is even called "Sceneviertel" (i.e. the "hip" neighbourhood) on the street signs. Talking to one of the people living in that neighbourhood we were told that it was the only place "livable" in Dresden- sounds a bit harsh to me, especially since we say amazing, huge mansions close to the river Elbe, direction "Blaues Wunder" bridge...
This bridge was fascinating to me because of something I read in the guide- apparently it was supposed to be destroyed before the red army invaded Dresden in 1945 but two brave men cut the cord that was supposed to ignite the dynamite and thus saved one of the few monuments still left after the horrific bombing of Dresden. What was most impressive to me though was how many of the buildings have only recently been reconstructed and the vivid recollection how things must have looked after the war and a long time thereafter for that matter. The Frauenkirche in Dresden is one of the best examples, after the bombing in February 1945 it looked like this - but in an unprecedented effort money has been raised and it now is back to its original beauty but still by using some of the old debris from its ruins it still reminds the visitor strongly of what has happened here.
Right opposite the Frauenkirche we saw the Kulturpalast which looks like a prototype of Soviet architecture and thus completes the recollection of the different eras that this city has lived through. It makes you wonder what sort of monument the visitors in 50 years will connect with our times. What kind of specific style that will seem completely outdated by then?
In any case- Dresden is well worth a visit and the next trip down the Eastern route should defintely take us to Leipzig as well. One more great advantage of the East should be mentioned here as well: it almost seems like a different world in terms of prices- both generally for food, drinks etc. but also for real estate. We briefly considered investing in an old-people's home just across the street from our hotel (would have had a pool as well) but then decided against it as first of all we would run the risk of picking up a weird accent and secondly Thommy's coffee does not seem to have made it all the way to Dresden. But then again- when retiring this may have changed? Will try getting some more pix up here so you can see how pretty the city really is :-)
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