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Published: October 17th 2021
The Dresden Skyline
Arguably the money shot of tourism in Dresden, with the old town lying alongside the Elbe River.Wow. Yes, I'm back.
The last time I posted to this blog, I said that was going to take a break from travelling for a while and that I didn't know when I would be posting next. Never in my wildest imagination did I think that it would be a break of two and a half years - and never in my wildest nightmares did I think that the world would be forever changed by a global pandemic. Pandemics? Surely, they only happen in the movies.
Alas, this was no Hollywood disaster film, this was real life and the scale of the coronavirus pandemic still astonishes me to this day. It is almost impossible to think of a global event that has literally affected every single human being on the planet and that has completely changed life as we know it; a doomsday scenario come to life. I can still almost barely believe it; the tragedy of the livelihoods ruined, the loneliness of the lockdowns forced upon us, the sorrow for all the lives lost.
My road trip around the Peloponnese with my sister feels like a lifetime ago, so I feel I must provide a brief synopsis of the intervening two and a half years.
Residenzschloss
Dating back 800 years, the former royal residence of Saxony now houses several museums and galleries. I had literally just moved into my own apartment when I went on my trip to
Tunisia and
Greece and having never lived alone before, I was very much looking forward to thoroughly enjoying having my own space - twelve years of shared flats and
more than two years of continuous hostel life tends to do that to you. I very much enjoyed the shared living experience, but I'm not getting any younger and it's now time to live a different way.
And so I was pretty much OK with not travelling, happy to enjoy the comfort of my new apartment and the trappings of life in Berlin for a while.
Not that I stayed completely put; a work trip back to
Amsterdam for a week was fun and I also managed to make it back to Auckland and Melbourne over Christmas and New Year 2019-2020 to visit friends and family.
And I was lucky that I went back when I did; the pandemic got into full swing just two months after I got back to Berlin and the rest is history. I haven't been able to go back to New Zealand or Australia since.
I still remember the day that the pandemic officially started for
Walking Along The Roof Of The Zwinger Palace
With a moat on one side and Versailles-like gardens on the other, it is quite the romantic stroll. me; on March 11th 2020, with coronavirus cases increasing exponentially, my colleagues and I were told that we would be all be working from home for a couple of days as a "trial" to see how our company could function in such circumstances. As I left the office that evening and said goodbye to my colleagues, I had a feeling that this would probably be the last time in a long time that I would see them (and the office); just four days later on March 16th 2020, German Chancellor Angela Merkel then declared that the entire country would be locked down.
I had gotten pretty comfortable in my apartment and so I was actually pretty OK with being locked down; it was the existential dread and the fear and uncertainty about what was going to happen that I struggled with the most. I suspect that I am not just speaking for myself when I say that COVID-19 has brought the fragility of life into sharp relief. Meanwhile, I hated having to crouch over my laptop at my dining table in order to work and I really started to miss the office and in-person social interactions.
When I wasn't
Äußere Neustadt
The cafes, restaurants and hostels on this street sum up quite neatly the sort of cool and hip atmosphere that exists in the Äußere Neustadt. working, I was cooking and I really got into it. I spent all the money I was saving by not going out, on upgrading my kitchen equipment and utensils and I can now say that I have quite the repertoire of delicious dishes. My transformation from a young, outgoing, alcoholic, adventurous backpacker to an old, introverted, teetotal, reclusive homebody was already underway, but the pandemic has merely accelerated the process.
The first lockdown lasted about three months and summer brought out the sun, warmer weather and the end of lockdown. Berliners basked in sunshine and freedom for a few months but as the winter came, so did a multiplication of coronavirus cases and soon we were back where we started. I managed to get myself a new squeeze just before the second lockdown and she and
Fantasy Premier League (which I hadn't played or closely followed for five years) managed to get me through the long, dark, cold Berlin winter.
The second lockdown seemed to simultaneously fly by and last forever but the change of seasons once again brought a change in circumstances. Berliners were allowed to be out and about in the warm sunshine again and cafes, bars and
Cricket!
My mate Vinny playing a lovely cut shot down to third man during one of our tournament matches in Dresden. restaurants came out of their winter hibernation.
My lockdown relationship - like a lot of relationships forged during lockdown - was like a vampire, reduced to ashes by the summer sun, but suddenly the world was awash with new possibilities again.
One of those possibilities was to play cricket.
My Aussie friend Vinny got me, Scott and my German friend Carsten to come along to some training sessions with his team and before I knew it, I had signed up for the season and had my own personalised kit.
I played cricket every summer when I was back at high school and it was my first love before discovering football.
Indeed I have even attended a match and written about it on this blog! Since my high school days however, I have only played once, while I was in
London, so it took a while for my body's cricketing muscle memory to come back.
Now if you are wondering who the hell plays cricket in Germany, then you are not the only one - but the sport is alive and kicking here, with the league in Berlin made up of a few teams of mostly ex-pats from the Indian subcontinent. My team is made up mostly of Sri Lankans with a sprinkling
Königsbrücker Straße
The rather elegant main thoroughfare that runs through the Äußere Neustadt. of Afghans, along with a Pakistani, an Indian, a Bangladeshi, an Aussie (Vinny) and a Kiwi (myself). The facilities for playing cricket in Germany aren't anywhere near like what you would get back in New Zealand, but such is the passion that the players and organisers here have for the sport, that this presents no obstacle and no place is too far to travel in order to play some cricket.
Which is what led to me making my first trip out of Berlin for more than a year and a half (I did visit nearby Potsdam, but I'm not sure that really counts...). My team were participating in a week-long regional cricket tournament being held in Dresden and with so much annual leave that I had to burn before the end of the year - why take holiday when you can't go anywhere during a worldwide pandemic and you're working from home every day? - I thought that I might as well take a week off to play some cricket and visit a city that I had always heard good things about and had been hoping to visit one day. Leaving Berlin for the first time since the start
Young Student Vibe
This picture of youthful looking people hanging out outside a bar in the Äußere Neustadt sums up the general vibe that I felt in this part of Dresden. of the pandemic was...quite exciting.
Leaving for Dresden on a Sunday evening, Vinny and I reacquainted ourselves with an old friend of mine from
Euro 2016; FlixBus. I liked it back then and I still like it now - FlixBus was just as comfortable as remembered it, apart from having to wear a face-mask for the entire duration of the two-hour trip.
After being dropped off at Dresden's Neustadt train station, it seemed like there was a shortage of taxis in the city; this would become a recurring theme. Thankfully the hotel was just a twenty-minute walk away, so off we went by foot.
My first impression of Dresden was that it was a young, student city; our walk through the
Äußere Neustadt - which we would walk to and through for dinner and drinks every evening during our stay - brought us past many a bar, restaurant and boutique skate shop. The "outer new city" was where all the nightlife was at - cool, cultural and punky, this was the most "Berlin" part of Dresden, where a casual beer garden, a retro-chic cocktail bar, dark rock dive bar and an Irish pub (of course) were amongst the various
Cool, Cultural & Punky
This picture illustrate the grungy and punky nature of the Äußere Neustadt. watering holes that we visited; and a semi-decent Indian place, a stylishly good Japanese restaurant and a chain-store, Wagamama-vibe Vietnamese eatery counted amongst the places we ate at.
Rife with street art and small galleries, the Äußere Neustadt would be the most similar place in Dresden to where I live in Berlin - all very hipster, although area's populace would probably bristle at that particular description.
On the way to the hotel, we happened to pass by our team-mates who had all just finished eating at a local
döner kebap shop. As a group of Sri Lankans, Afghans and an Asian (me) walked the rest of the way to the hotel, I did feel a little uneasy.
Unfortunately, Saxony - the German state of which Dresden is its capital - is known as being a little bit of a hotbed for right-wing nationalism, so as a large group of relative outsiders, we could be forgiven for being just a tad nervous about who we might bump into.
We were all staying at the Marriott Hotel, which came complete with a buffet breakfast every morning and a pool, sauna and gym - relative luxury compared to my backpacking days!
Innere Neustadt
The plush and upmarket Innere Neustadt contrasts with the grittier Äußere Neustadt. It felt nice to be waited upon once again and I made the most of the buffet breakfast, stuffing my face every morning - I'll always be a backpacker at heart. The early morning rises for our cricket games each day were brutal though.
With our games completed in the mornings, this did leave our afternoons free however. I made the most of my time here by exploring the city and taking photos, just like I did for so many years on the road. From playing cricket again to the sightseeing, everything felt reassuringly familiar and nostalgic for a few days - like everything was right in the world again (even though it's not).
In contrast to the relative grittiness of the Äußere Neustadt, I then walked around stately, pretty and upmarket
Innere Neustadt. Plush, pastel-coloured hotels and restaurants lined the cobblestoned streets here, in what appeared to be the most obviously restored part of the city. Flattened by Allied bombing raids during World War II, Dresden has bounced back to become one of Germany's most visited cities and there was definitely a bit more of a touristy vibe in the Innere Neustadt. But still, although the Innere Neustadt
Frauenkirche
Perhaps the most iconic sight and building in Dresden. was nice, I didn't quite get what the fuss was all about - is this really one of Germany's most visited cities?
After the morning matches on our second day, I then set out to cross the Elbe River down to the
Aldstadt in the afternoon and it is fair to say that I indeed discovered "the fuss".
It started as I crossed the Carolabrücke and saw the skyline of the old town in full view along the river. It reminded me of famous riverside skylines like the ones in
London and
Prague. The riverside promenade is dominated by the Brühlsche Terrasse which is backed by the fine-looking Academy Of Fine Arts.
Going right into the heart of the old town, behind the Academy Of Fine Arts is the surprisingly massive Neumarkt square, the centrepiece of which is the 96m-high Frauenkirche, Dresden's most iconic sight. Snaking my way through the restored medieval alleys of the old town, I get to the
Residenzschloss or Dresden Castle, where the old kings of Saxony once lived; it now houses five museums of historic artefacts from Dresden's history. Over the road from the Residenzschloss is the Zwinger Palace, very much the Versailles of
Zwinger Palace
This splendid old palace also houses galleries and musuems. Dresden. The wonderfully manicured grounds were being renovated - far from the only sight being restored in Dresden, which ruined some great photo opportunities - and the palace itself houses art galleries displaying classical paintings from Botticelli and Vermeer among others. Joining me for a stroll alongside the moat atop the rooftop terraces of this baroque palace were lots of couples seeking a bit of romantic charm, as well as young women striking poses for that perfect shot to go on their Instagram feeds.
I then walk past Dresden's famous opera house, the Semperoper, before crossing the classic Marienbrücke (which was also in the middle of being restored) on the way back to the hotel, Dresden's answer to Prague's Charles Bridge (which is just a couple of hours away).
The Aldstadt is indeed beautiful - I knew Dresden was an attractive place but just not in this way. The "Berlin" elements of the Äußere Neustadt were expected, but I hadn't heard much about the city's crown jewel old town - it was rather unexpected, but in a good way.
The Aldstadt is super-touristy as well although with a global pandemic still raging, the massive groups of Chinese tourists were conspicuous
Die Aldstadt
A view of Dresden's old town from the Brühlsche Terrasse, by their absence; they were just replaced by massive groups of old European tourists instead.
I didn’t pay to go into any of the museums or galleries - part of it was because I’ve been to so many of these museums and galleries in my lifetime now and the fact that I'm not that much into art; part of it was the backpacker instinct kicking back into gear and not wanting to spend too much money.
In any case, it was just great to be tourist again after so long.
On our last morning in Dresden, Vinny and I had one last thing that we had to do.
Carsten and his friend Marco had signed up to the
Balkan Express Rally, which is not a race as such, but more of a journey of adventure through the Balkans. To enter the rally you need to have a car that is at least 20 years old and you must navigate the rally route without using a GPS, satnav or any highways. Paper maps only - this is old school. Almost a hundred contestants score points for completing various tasks during the rally and net bonus points for the age of their vehicle
Marco & Carsten
Our friends Marco and Carsten along with their entry into the Balkan Express Rally. - the older, the better!
Carsten and Marco entered the rally with a white 1972 Mercedes Benz that was once a taxi - in fact, it still has its taxi light on the roof!
The starting point of the rally was in Dresden and just happened to be at the same time that Vinny and I were in town. Gathered in the Altmarkt square were all the rally vehicles, some of which were quite astonishingly done up. There were vans that were converted into mobile mansions, monster trucks, old fire engines and even a 1995 Volkswagen Golf reformatted as a tank! It was pretty cool to see, as we waved Carsten and Marco off on their way.
Now if you are wondering why I have hardly mentioned the actual cricket that was played while we were in Dresden, there are two main reasons; firstly, this is a travel blog, not a cricket blog; and secondly, we had a terrible tournament, winning only one of our eight games. And personally, I only featured in one match - but to be honest, I was just happy to be out of Berlin for a few days.
The tournament itself was tremendously well
Dresden T10 Cricket Tournament
My team competing in a match in the slickly organised Dresden T10 Cricket Tournament, which is even televised! The cameras and commentators (!) are in the metal scaffolding structure in the background. organised though; it was even televised with official commentators (who we could annoyingly hear on the field) and the coverage, I have to say, is pretty slick. It is streamed for free on YouTube and can even be bet on in India - meaning that match-fixing is enough of a problem so that we had to all hand in our phones to the officials before each game. And I soon found out why as I was sent a message via Facebook during a match by a random Indian man, asking me if I was going to have a bowl! I never thought I'd play cricket at a high enough level for my match to be televised, let alone to be approached to fix a match by an Indian bookmaker, so I felt proud in a sort of dubious way, that I had fulfilled a teenage cricketing dream of sorts.
The competition was organised by the European Cricket Network, a media organisation that was established in 2019 to promote and televise cricket in Europe. I'm not a fan of the T10 format though - I bat more like Mark Richardson or Rahul Dravid, rather than Brendan McCullum or Virender Sehwag...
Semperoper
One of Germany's most famous opera houses apparently, which dates back to 1841. But overall, I really liked Dresden as a city and it did get me thinking about how nice it would be to live somewhere smaller (and cheaper); after all, my job doesn't require me to live anywhere in particular now. I remember having similar thoughts after visiting
Bordeaux. Dresden however, may be a bit
too small...
The city isn't very well set up for cycling either, with too many cobblestoned streets, main roads squeezed for space by tram lines, and hardly any cycle lanes.
And that, concludes my first blogworthy trip in two and a half years.
As for when I will be writing next, I honestly couldn't tell you. It is very unlikely to be this year however - I have many travel ambitions left to fulfil, but would like the world to heal and open up a bit more before I embark on any more adventurous travels. I have a shit-ton of leave to get through next year though, so a long vacation somewhere is on the cards, maybe around Easter next year. Where exactly I will go will depend on the course of the pandemic and where I can get to easily.
In a way,
The Wheel Of Vision
Dresden's answer to the London Eye, being looked up from the roof of the Zwinger Palace, with the palace's moat in the foreground. it was rather apt to have visited Dresden for the trip that would bring me back to travelling, after being marooned in the non-travelling wilderness. Because after everything that all of us have been through in the last eighteen months, Dresden is a city that offers us all hope; that after being destroyed, things can be built back better; that after darkness, there can be light; that after death, there can be life.
Auf Wiedersehen,
Derek
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Welcome back...
there is life after death! I've had to postpone my trip to Scotland three times...perhaps next June. In the meantime, winter is approaching and all I want is to be is lying on a tropical beach!