Dresden

Hello - it has been a minute but we have been busy!  We just returned to Meckelfeld from spending six nights in Dresden. Our time there started with a free walking tour. I highly recommend a free walking tour to learn the history of the city and find out the important things to see.

Of course our tour guide was Nicolas from Italy, a published author with a PhD from some university in America. 

The meeting place at the Martin Luther statue in front of the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). Despite the name, this is a Protestant Church.

This mural is over 150 meters long and tells the 800 year history of the city ending in 1918 when the monarchy ended.

The rulers here had some cool nicknames - Konrad the Great, Friedrich the Quarrelsome, Ernst the Soft-hearted, Friedrich the Wise, August the Strong and his son August the Fat.

Below is a close up of a wall in the palace, this is not stone. It is plaster that has been etched in an ancient "graffiti" style. It gives it a 3-dimensional look.

Inside courtyard of palace. They played some fun "games" in the courtyards such as "fox tossing" wherein two persons hold ends of a rope on the ground. When everyone is ready, they release foxes into the courtyard. As they run around the idea is to pull the rope at the same time as your partner as a fox crosses it to send it flying into the air.  Goodness, PETA would not like this at all!

This is another mural, put in place during communist times of East Germany (DDR) to represent the blood and struggle of the "common" people. The two men depicted are Friedrich Engels and Karl Marxx.

The Catholic cathedral.

Der Zwinger - this place contained a sort of private zoo as well as an Orangerie (basically gardens with a seasonal greenhouse).

A quaint little street off the main square.

We went into the museum in the palace.  Just weird stuff:

This is some funky flatware made with coral - imagine seeing this on the wedding registry!?!?

Bizarre.

This appears to be a fancy gold carpet until you get closer...

... it is actually just a bunch of gold-wrapper candy!

We were lucky to get tickets to a concert in the magnificent SemperOper. Directed by Elim Chan, an up-and-coming conductor, we heard selections from Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Stravinsky.  It was amazing!

The SemperOper as we left the concert.

A little history lesson is important to appreciate Dresden.

On Feb 13 & 14, 1945 the British Royal Air Force and the American Air Force bombed Dresden.  The city was largely a cultural hub and had little military value.  The bombing was carried out to demoralize the Germans and to weaken their resolve. The bombs dropped were a combination of explosive and incendiaries ("fire bombs").  Whatever was not destroyed by the explosive bombs burned up by the fires started by the incendiary bombs.

When you stand in "Altstadt" Dresden today you might think that the buildings are very old.  Actually most of them are pretty new having been rebuilt after the war was over.  

This building, the Frauenkirche, was one of the last to be rebuilt. This Lutheran church was reconstructed between 1994-2005.

The interior of the dome. 

The view from the cupula.

interior altar

We had a lovely time in Dresden.  I highly recommend spending some time here if you ever get the chance.  It was an easy train ride from Hamburg.

We did take a day trip, via train, to Meissen.  That city is famous for its Meissen Porcelain.  We did not buy anything - it is all hand painted, etc.  The saucer for the cup & saucer set was about $20.  There were vases there that cost as much as a nice house ($700,000)! 

We will hang out in Meckelfeld a fews days, do some laundry, see some friends and then on Thursday we head for Poland!

Take care and stay cool!

Sheri & Carsten