When we decided to go to Dresden I have to admit I didn't know much about it and I wasn't all that excited for this leg of the trip. Rob seemed to think it would be great so I thought, why not. When I began to do more research on the city I found a lot of information including words like bombing, death and destruction. During World War 2 there was a very controversial, very destructive and very deadly bombing that happened in Dresden's city center. Thousands of people lost their lives and almost the entire city was destroyed. In our Airbnb there was actually a poster that depicted three different panoramic views of Dresden, prewar, postwar and modern day. The photo immediately after the war was unbelievable to look at, but even more unbelievable is that they rebuilt the entire city center and the modern panoramic (and the city we saw) looks amazingly similar to the prewar Dresden. Knowing this cities complicated history peaked my interest however I still wasn't sure what to expect.
We spent two nights in Dresden which basically left us with one full day to explore the city. The walk from our Airbnb was a little long but mostly peppered with lovely tree lined streets, restaurants and statues. We began to cross the bridge (over the Elbe River) and the city came into view. I could quickly start to see why Rob had pushed for this city to be a part of our itinerary. The city center was, impressive, there were a number of towering buildings clumped together. A clock tower stood out in the middle. Each building had it's own statues and carvings and details that made them unique and beautiful. Coming into the square you could stare up at each tower individually for quite a while. It was hard to stop looking up and even harder to put our cameras down. These buildings also looked very old and it was hard to differentiate between the ones that had been destroyed and rebuilt and the ones that had stood their for hundreds of years. Each cobblestone step we took was more and more awe inspiring.
As we continued through the square we came upon the Procession of Princes. This long mural was made out of Meisen Tiles, which are famous in Dresden. The mural depicts a scene of the rulers of Saxony riding in on horseback. This mural is over 700 years old and was luckily not destroyed during the bombings. The intricate detail of each tile is astounding and you could certainly take a while walking along and viewing each royal "prince".
We continued through the city towards Frauenkirche, a church dedicated to "our lady". Frauenkirche is one of the main things to see when visiting Dresden. It is a very unique church with is currently a Lutheran church, however it has not always been Lutheran. The original church was built in the 11th century and it has gone through many changed over the years. It is currently a very impressive structure that tends to be one the defining characteristics of the city of Dresden.
We decided to head inside and up to see the views from the top. Inside we were pleasantly surprised by the colorful interior. This was like no church I had ever seen before, it was covered with pastel pinks, golds and blues. The dome on the top of the church was certainly something not to miss.
We enjoyed a short ride up to the dome part of the church and then had to hoof it the rest of the way up. Many circular ramps and sets of stairs later we were up on top the church. From high above the city we could see it all and we realized (still a little out of breathe) that this was worth the walk up.
As it turned out we were in Dresden on a day when the weather was pretty moody, it was sunny one minute and pouring down rain (with thunder and lightening) the next. While we were up inside the church tower we saw lightening out in the distance and felt some gusting rain. Luckily we didn't let this get us down.
Soon enough the sun was back out and we could put our umbrella away and take our cameras back out. We headed over to the royal palace, one of the oldest buildings in the city.
We continued on towards The Zwinger, another must see in Dresden. The Zwinger is a large area surrounded by an ornate fortress which now houses restaurants and museums. The massive courtyard below holds fountains, flowers, pathways and statues.
Obligatory silly pictures were taken...
"King Robert at your service". We wandered around a little more throughout the walled area, both on top and within the courtyard. We then decided to head back to the main square. We passed the glamorous opera house along the way and just enjoyed looking around at all the details that this city has to offer. We walked along tree lined walkways, looked at artists trying to capture the beauty of this city and saw a number of brides and grooms getting their photos taken with Dresden as their perfect backdrop. At one point the church bells were ringing at an odd time and for so long that we had to go see what was going on. It was a wedding letting out of one of the many churches and everyone paused to see the glowing couple and their family and friends. We had a quick ice cream stop and made a new friend.
Next we walked the streets to see if we had missed anything before we had to walk back to our Airbnb for the night. It turned out that with all the amazing artistic buildings all around we almost didn't notice how unbelievably colorful this place was. As if it wasn't pretty enough already - Dresden now you're just showing off.
Dresden took me by surprise and charmed me like crazy. While I was walking those cobblestone streets I could not believe that I had protested coming here. It was just the perfect day (even with the rain). Another great thing about this city is that the area you want to see is not so gigantic that it's overwhelming, especially for us who were only there for one full day. We found ourselves becoming comfortable with the streets very quickly and often finding ourselves back in the same charming part of the city without having to walk too far. We reluctantly knew that it was time to head back across the river and back to our room for the night, but not without taking one last (maybe a couple last) looks at this fascinating city.
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