Dresden

A few weeks ago, I wanted to go hiking at this cool place called Bastei, but Joe pointed out that since it was 3 hours away, that by the time we arrived, it would be dark. So we put it off until we could schedule it properly. The closest city with a hotel that would accept our credit card points was Dresden; we booked the trip for October 19^th. This worked out well, especially since Joe had Friday-Sunday off, and we were able to leave Regensburg early Friday morning. We drove to Dresden because it is in Saxony, another German state (we live in Bavaria), and the lander train pass only works in 1 state at a time. We arrived in Dresden just before noon.

For some reason, our GPS couldn’t manage to find anything in Dresden, therefore I recommend looking up the places you would like to go before hand, and learning the landmarks associated with those addresses. Lacking the ability to locate our destination accurately, we just followed the signs for the Zentrum, which refers to the central, downtown area. Dresden recently upgraded all their parking facilities, and there are signs located around the city indicating the number of free spaces available in various garages. We actually were able to park right around the corner from all the major attractions in Old Town Dresden. Dresden may in fact become one of my favorite European cities. Everything is laid out close together, making the attractions easy to get to–without having to trek from one end to the other of the city. If you plan to drive though, I would advise arriving early, because by the time we left the city center around 6pm, the garage was almost full, and this wasn’t even on the weekend.

Dresden Skyline and the Elbe River

Like most major cities, Dresden is located on a river, The Elbe and historic bridges are part of its architecture. However, most of the historic architecture located around the city is fairly recent. Confused? Towards the end of World War II, the Allies fire bombed the city destroying many of the buildings. The resulting fire destroyed even more. 3 days of bombing and fires in February 1945 effectively leveled the city and killed thousands, though the exact number is unknown. But Dresden rebuilt, albeit slowly. After the war, Dresden was a part of East Germany and the Communist bloc, and some reconstruction occurred. However, many building were left as rubble until much later in the 20^th century, and into the present. In fact, reconstruction was finished on the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) in 2005: sixty years after the fire strikes. My theory is our GPS had difficulty routing us, because reconstruction is still a work in progress. In fact the square around the church was under construction while we were visiting.

Part of the delay in the rebuilding occurred because of the people’s desire to distance themselves from the past. Dresden was the royal capital of Saxony, and pre-WWII was a center of arts, culture, and gilded finery. Hardly the kind of remembrances a communist ruled city would like to indulge in. Instead, parts of the city were developed using a more modern design, resulting in a diverse cityscape today. 

Useful Websites
Pictures from Our Trip
Dresden Tourism Homepage
          •Here you can download brochures about the city in PDF form
Dresden City Card
          •Discounts throughout the city, including transportation
Dresden at Wikipedia
          •Information about the city’s history with links to other pages with more information