Blogs from Dresden, Saxony, Germany, Europe - page 15

Geo: 51.051, 13.7337A bad sleep last night. I couldn't doze off until pretty late then I awoke at 6 AM, when I promptly thought about some crap that's been bothering me and it instantly kept me awake ... arrrrrrgh ... Mary gave me a hard time for getting blood all over her bed this morning. Guess I somehow cut myself and got some on her sheets while I sat on it. I returned from the showers to find her carefully examining her feet - I thought she was checking out her toes for more pus, but it turns out she thought her feet might have been cut and bled on the bed. We had wanted to grab a crepe from the market near the hostel, but the market wasn't running today. Instead, we went directly to ... read more

We caught the train into Dresden, our first train trip for sometime. We arrived mid afternoon and after checking into our hostel we hit the town. One of the first things we noticed about Dresden was that not as many people seemed to speak English as other places we had been too. It also did not seem to be as crowded. However, what it lacked in people, it did not lack in architecture. Dresden was almost completely destroyed due to Allied bombing during World War 2. However, it seems that all the old buildings have been reconstructed to match the old style. There are even photos showing how Dresden used to look and how it looks now, and you would hardly know the difference. Dresden has numerous towers from the town hall, several churches, museums and ... read more

Thomas greeted me like a long lost relative before whisking me away to his flat on the outskirts of Dresden before it was back to town to end the day with a nice cold ale at a local beer garden... Thomas had a lemonade of course. Dresden is divided something like East and West by the river Elbe which famously flooded the city and outlying areas in 2002. Flattened by allied bombing in 1945, most of the historical town has been rebuilt, starting under communist rule but with increased pace after unification since 1990. The "old town" which stretches along the banks of the Elbe gives rise to the often used term "Florence on the Elbe". Thomas had planned a number of excursions over the next few days as we explored the regions myriad of castles, ... read more

Hi everyone, Mollie and I had a fantastic time in Dresden. We were there for just one night, but managed to see some amazing sights and got a good feel for the city. As you can see from the photos, the majority of the buildings in the Old City have been rebuilt, due to the destruction of WWII, only in the last ten years. The Frauenkirche Church, shown below, was just completed in 2005- the darker slabs are actually from the rubble, while the rest is fresh sandstone, which will ultimately age to black as well. We also took a tour of the Semper Opera House, which was magnificent! Fortunately for us, my roommate, Jemi, put us in contact with his awesome friend, Rudi. Therefore, we had our own personal tour guide of the city. ... read more

Despite our best efforts, we could not find the express train to Dresden (Really, how hard can it be? There are only 12 or so platforms in the Leipzig bahnhof!) Instead, we jumped on the (much) slower train that stopped constantly along the way. We really didn't mind - Katie and I love traveling by train. Besides, it gave plenty of time to figure out all the settings on her new camera. Dresden was heavily bombed by the Allies in WWII, yet you'd never know. The city has been beautifully restored, and it's just absolutely gorgeous. It didn't hurt that it was over 70 degrees (in March!) the day we visited! It was also here in Dresden that I tasted my first "authentic" schnitzel...and I learned that it's not really my dish of choice. ... read more