A couple of weekends ago we went to Dresden. I found the trip remarkable for a couple of reasons. 1) I never imagined in my youth, that I would ever be in what was once “East” Germany, and 2) I was surprised at how charming and well developed the city was. They put a lot of thought into rebuilding the center of the city.
Considering, after all, we bombed the living s**t out of it.
And simple examination of the history shows that Communists did not do very much to fix it up after the war. But man o man-look at the place now:
This is the Frauekirche- which was utterly destroyed during the bombing. The Russians left it in ruins as a way to rub the German’s noses in the fact that they lost the war. After reunification, plans were made to rebuild it. It opened again in 2005. If you look to the left you can still see some of the bricks that were “smoke checked”.
There is a lot of beauty in the city however:
This the Semperoper, the Dresden state opera house. It was destroyed during the bombing and was rebuilt in 1985. It opened exactly 40 years after the bombing on 13 February with the same opera that was last performed before its destruction.
We spent the first day just exploring the city. Once you get out of the center of the town-it becomes like many former Soviet territories, row upon row of blocks of apartments. But the river Elbe is glorious:
And so the “Parade of Heroes” , which somehow miraculously survived the bombing:
The mural is made entirely of Meissen porcelain. How the S.O. knows that is beyond me………..
And of course there was a Winter Market:
There is also the Zwinger Palace
The next day the S.O. dragged me over to Bolesweicz Poland for her real objective-shopping for Polish Pottery. We had lunch at a bit of a tourist trap restaurant -but still fun, nonetheless:
Yes, it was a tourist place-but Poles gotta make money too, don’t they. And besides, the food was pretty good. Being from Pittsburgh, there was only one right thing to order-The Pierogi Sampler! Quite tasty!
I was surprised at the big difference in the way Poland looked and Germany did. It was quickly evident when you crossed the border. I did not expect that-especially since Bolesweicz was in what used to be German territory.
All in all though, if you come to Germany-Dresden is worth your time to visit. In the downtown they have put a lot of new and trendy restaurants with all kinds of cuisine. We discovered a really great Vietnamese restaurant. Possibly the best one we have eaten in Germany. Now that’s a plus.