The Dresden Files

Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was totally destroyed by the controversial Allied aerial bombing at the very end of World War II. The impact of the bombing, 40 years in the German Democratic Republic and contemporary city development have all completely changed the face of the city. Considerable restoration work has helped restore selective perspectives of Dresden.

Following a fairly late lunch we spent a few hours wandering around the old town, 'Altstadt'.   It was pretty amazing to see how well the Baroque buildings had been reconstructed, and particularly impressive was the reconstructed Frauenkirche (Our Lady of the Church). Before 1945 this was Germany's greatest Protestant church, but as with most of the other buildings in the area it was reduced to a pile of rubble. It sat in ruins for more than 35 years. Apparently, it was like a giant jigsaw puzzle to put back together, the new blocks of stone (the white sandstones) are intermingled with the fire-blackened ones that survived the fire.We even managed to take a look inside this prestigious church, unfortunately no mass was taking place, but we did get to sit in a pew and admire the view with the hoards of tourists for a while.

Continuing on through Old Town we had a look around Zwinger Palace, which is a palace-like complex that now houses a collection of museums and gardens centered on a big courtyard with fantastic fountains.

Continuing on we saw a grand old building that is the Opera House or Sempe Oper.  Others in Dresden instantly recognize it as an advertising campaign for Radeberge beer. As our friend Peter told us.

Fun Germany Fact!  Public toilets here cost 50c to 1 Euro to use.

What incredible buildings there are here! I can't imagine what it must of been like prior to February, 1945! The opulence of its palace, the zwinger, sculptures and opera house is something to be seen. You can spend hours here in the streets wondering how they managed to square off the cobbletones in the streets as well.

We are staying in the new city which is on the other side of the river and is completely different from Old Town. It's full of artists, (lots of) punks, normal people and everything in between. This side of the city has a lot of character. And by that I mean that there is a menagerie of different kinds of buildings, people and shops, most of which have some sort of graffiti on the walls. But really, there's graffiti everywhere. On our first night we visited the punk bar downstairs from our Hostel called Cafe Parlow. It had such an awesome array of music from german punk to Motorhead.   It totally ROCKED!


One of the sculptures called "Funnel Wall" in New Town is pretty cool as well, we found it by accident.  It is a colourful drain gutter system which is attached to the outside of a building in the Neustadt Kunsthofpassage.  When it rains it turns into charming musical instruments.

Dresden also has a good public transport system, but we found it small enough to walk around, and as with any city that you visit, you discover a lot more interesting nooks and crannies when on foot. And happily, the less than positive reputation that Dresden had in my mind was completely replaced with a modern, buzzing city with fantastic old architecture.