Dresden

Tuesday, April 6 – Stopped in Dresden for a few hours. The city was completely destroyed near the end of WWII by allied aerial bombings. Much of the city was under construction and being rebuilt or renovated. It was really interesting to see some of the buildings (mostly churches) that they rebuilt or tried to salvage – they were all charcoal black! Or had ½ new renovations and ½ old charred materials – very interesting. We walked by the Fürstenzug (aka the procession of the princes), a big yellow mural painted on the wall (right). We saw the famous church, Neumarkt mit Frauenkirche, but could not go in because there was a service. I think it is so iconic because they rebuilt it as a sign of recovery and prosperity for the city after WWII.

We walked through a beautiful park and across the bridge to the new district, Neustadt (the old district where we were is Altsadt).

We walked down a cute little pedestrian walkway/street lined with trees and park benches and came across an interesting church, Drei Königs Kirch Turm. The bottom foundation was brand new white and cream stucco, but the top of the church with the steeple was charred and black. We went up to the top of the bell tower/steeple and overlooked the city – it was beautiful looking back over the river at the old buildings and churches!

I really enjoyed Dresden. It was a very small, slow-paced town with interesting buildings/churches that they salvaged as much as they could. I wish we would have had a tour guide to know the history and significance of what we were seeing…next time! :)