Shut Up Feet

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My third trip to visit Dieter und Gudrun here in spectacular Dresden. It's high on my list of favorite destinations in all of Europe, and since I've never been here without Dieter und Gudrun, it's impossible to say whether it's them, the city, or both. Here's hoping I never have to find out. 😊

Greg was adorably nervous about meeting them and desperately wanted to make sure they would like him, so he practiced some polite greetings auf deutsch during our brief train ride from Leipzig. I remember doing the same in 2005 and 2008. On the platform, Dieter greeted us so exuberantly that it took a minute for Greg to get his greeting in edgewise; Dieter exclaimed, "Ah! Without accent!" Highest possible praise, and put Greg instantly at ease. Well played, all of you.

And, with that, we entered the Schröersturm: a whirlwind of sightseeing and activity directed by these two very proud lifelong Dresdners. The itinerary closely resembled my two prior trips ("Tell them, come here and see for yourselves." and Himmel, I mean Dresden) which it turns out I didn't blog about in much detail either time, so it looks like I have a lot of 'splainin' to do.

Our first evening is mostly already outlined in yesterday's blog post regarding the FIFA-Weltmeisterschaft (We Are the Champions!), though I should add that during the downpour on our hosts' covered terrace we were served an unreasonable number of pieces of Gudrun's homemade strawberry cake, which was delicious.

As always, Dieter had an aggressive programme of tours and sights planned for us for the remainder of our time. On Monday morning, we embarked on the Straßenbahn (tram) to the Altstadt (old town center) to see the heart of Dresden: the view from the Brühlsche Terrasse, the "Balcony of Europe", out over the Elbe River and back onto the city's historic skyline; a stroll past the glass "Zitronenpresse" (lemon squeezer) dome of the Dresden Fine Arts Academy, then around the Neumarkt and into its centerpiece, the Frauenkirche, for a special afternoon tourist service. In 2005, I arrived just a few months too early to see inside the church, but in 2008 and today it does not disappoint. On this trip, I learned that much of the decadent Baroque altar actually survived the firebombing, fire, collapse of the church, and somehow even the DDR—it's nestled inside the set of walls that were left standing all those years, identifiable from the outside as the large section of black stone—so what we see in the restored church today is the original. I also learned that the Frauenkirche, whose marvelous engineering had withstood centuries of war and hundreds of cannonballs previously, collapsed in the Dresden firebombing for much the same reason New York's World Trade Center towers collapsed in 2001: not the bomb impacts, but the intensity of the firestorm, which superheated the supporting columns until they exploded. And finally, I learned that the subsequent pile of rubble seemed so flat all those years because the massive stone dome crashed straight down into the crypt and drove deeply into the ground. The reconstruction, which started promptly after the fall of the DDR, makes more sense now, too: so many of those pieces, painstakingly recovered, numbered, stored, and rebuilt, were right there, pretty near their original positions, all along. The kind of persistent and delicate politicking and resistance that must have been needed to keep the DDR from bulldozing the site in the 1940s and 50s is impressive as well. "Oh, let's keep it as—I know, a war memorial. That pile of untouched rubble in the center of the city will be a great way to remind us Germans how awful we were for starting that terrible war and how it's totally our fault, don't you think, comrade?"

We somewhat awkwardly stepped out of the optional "tour" of the Frauenkirche after the service (it consisted of sitting in pews while an elder of the church talked to us from the pulpit about the features of the church... in German) to make our appointment at the Historisches Grünes Gewölbe (Historic Green Vault), an extraordinary museum which limits the number of visitors by assigning entry times in small groups. The Electors of Saxony built these rooms especially to display their collections of extraordinary treasures: amber, ivory (depressing), silver, gold, porcelain, semi-precious stones, rock crystal, bronze, precious jewels, and curiosities. The walls are painted and mirrored with techniques to dazzle the eye all by themselves as well as highlight the pieces on display. We had to pass through an airlock to get in and out, which apparently removed the dust from our clothing and shoes to help preserve the items. Upstairs, the Neues Grünes Gewölbe (New Green Vault) continues the collection in a more modern presentation, and I do remember seeing that on both visits before. I've been to lots of museums in Europe, but nothing even remotely like this. I don't know if the Electors of Saxony were unusual in their conspicuous collection (seems unlikely), or this one is particularly well-preserved (possible), or I just normally don't go in for art museums so I've missed all the other ones (could very well be). In my defense, Wikipedia does say this is the largest collection of its kind in all Europe. Finally, we got to visit two entirely new exhibits since my last trip here: the Rüstkammer (Armory), with weapons and armor presented dramatically, and the Türckische Cammer (Turkish Chamber), featuring a remarkable collection of items from, and/or in the style of, the Ottoman Empire (which, after it was no longer a terrifying threat to Europe, became a fad and obsession for a while).

Four museums in one day definitely violates my one-museum-per-day rule, so we were really hurting after all those exhibits, even if we do grudgingly admit that they were all totally worth it in retrospect. We limped home via Straßenbahn and enjoyed dinner and conversation and Bier at home for the evening. We had a small catastrophe with my laptop, which I shall describe in a dedicated post befitting the epicness of the tale.

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Comments

[Andrea]

"Oh, let's keep it as—I know, a war memorial. That pile of untouched rubble in the center of the city will be a great way to remind us Germans how awful we were for starting that terrible war and how it's totally our fault, don't you think, comrade?" ...I totally love you! ;) Also:* When you have the sharp "s" sound, you only put a ß after a long vowel. After a short vowel, it's ss. Therefore: Zitronenpresse ;)

[J&J]

Shoes
I changed shoes and that really helped my poor feet when standing or walking too much. If that could possiblily work there. Would hate to miss anything crammed in a short amount of time! Interesting article and very informative from your prospective!

[bsktcase]

@Andrea: ß -> ss now fixed, but I liked it better my way ;)