Dresden

On Tuesday we drove to Dresden. We had 2 nights there, so went for a long walk around the city on Wednesday. From the Hotel, we walked through the "Big Garden" into the city.



It took about an hour to get into the city but it was a pleasant walk. First thing were these surprising pipes. We later found out they were to pump water out of construction sites.

Then to city hall with Hercules on top.

The old market place (hmm you might have realised every town has one of these) had the obligitory church. This one is special though. During WWII it was completely flattened. The GDR left it there as a reminder of war, but after that, they built it back up by popular demand. We reckon the black bricks were the original ones. It has the nickname "stone bell" from the shape of the dome.


While reconstrucing the church, they did an archeological dig and found many very old buildings.

Past that was the Elbe River through the middle of town. It divides the old town from the new town which is actually only a few decades younger.

Along the front were some old buildings. This was the academy of art.

What do you know? A church!

But this one was privately connected to the palace via a raised walkway you can just see here.

The back of the palace stable.

The front of the palace stable. Note the heads!

Rest of the palace.

Opposite that was the opera house.

And the Zwinger - a collection of 6 museums...

with a large garden in the middle,


and 40 Meisen bells to chime each hour.

A nearby fountain will fascinate my mother!

Remembering that this was part of East Germany, there were still some reminders of that time. Most of the town, however, has been changed in the last 18 years.

East German cheap and easy apartments.

With a touch of modern influence.

The next stop was the VW "transparent factory" where they make the Phaeton. Couldn't take photos in most of it, but it was the full assembly line for the cars. Very cool with some engineering marvels. This we could take a photo of!

As I said, it is transparent. Right down to being able to see the workers having lunch from outside. Good natural lighting for one thing!

Then back throught the garden and this time found a mansion in the middle! The strange things you find.

We are so pleased we went to Dresden - thank you Julia and Sebastian for telling us to go there over other places. We also had a HUGE but cheap German meal near the hotel from "Homage to Oma". Highly recommended. Dresden just seems to be one of those cities that doesn't get the attention it really deserves. Also, apparently the new town has really good night life.