We left the main train station at approximately 9:02 in the morning, and by 10:40, we had arrived in the city of Dresden. I will now give a (short, probably extremely incomplete, and containing mostly impressions and not facts) history lesson about the city. In the 1600-1700s, Dresden was known as the Florence (got that wrong in my last post, sorry guys) of Germany. Many of the buildings there were either inspired by or built by Italian architects and designers. A lot of the royal buildings are comparable also to those built by the Louies in France, as those were the contemporaries during the time when many of Dresden's important buildings were being erected. During World War II, it was believed that Dresden would not be harmed during the bombings, because it was such an important cultural center of Europe. In fact, it was left unharmed till 1945, at which point many people from other cities (including my own beloved Leipzig) had run to Dresden believing that they would be safe there. One night (which, as promised, I don't know the exact date of), british & american pilots firebombed the entire city of Dresden. When I say entire, I mean entire - very few buildings were left standing and somewhere between 25,000 - 47,000 people died and were later burned in the city center to avoid infection.
On this note, Dresden in part under the GDR but mostly after reunification has spent considerable amount of time reconstructing old buildings, that honestly look as old as they were supposed to be. As our tourguide said, what's old in Dresden, is new, and what is new, is old.
PICTURE TIME!!
1. View from my Studentenwohnheim (dorm room)
2. Some pictures of the Kleingarten
3. GDR building in Dresden's old city square, now one of the biggest hotel I've ever seen - took 10 minutes to walk past.
4. If there's one thing about Germany that would never be true in the US, it's that whenever they want to build something, they have to let the archaologists in first, because there's almost always something below ground.
5. This is the Frauenkirche, the main Lutheran church in the city. It was ENTIRELY destroyed in the bombings, and remained a pile of rubble for a realllly long time. The dark stones you see are original, dark from the fire, and inside I couldn't take pictures but the alter was pieced together.
6. This is the only Catholic Church in Dresden, commissioned by a member of the Royal Family living in Dresden originating from Poland, which explains why it's Catholic. It was a big issue, so it was a private chapel officially, which is ridiculous considering it's size.
7. This is the opera house, which burnt down 3 times on it's own before being destroyed in the bombings. I'm told it's an incredibly accurate replica, though.
8. Here's a photo of Ed & I, with our friend Nick creeping in the background.
9.This is the courtyard built in pieces by the same branch of the family that built the Catholic Church. It was constructed originally to house orange trees, and then made bigger in order to allow for extensive tournaments and celebrations for a wedding. Also reconstructed, but here is housed one of the biggest porcelain collections in the world, the second largest armory collection (which was INCREDIBLE), and a massive collection of portraits.
10. Meg, Jessica, Nick, Ed & I sitting just above the Elbe.
11. Mural of many rulers of Dresden, as well as other members of the royal family, that survived the firebombing because it's made of porcelain.
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