Ha, finally a post about Dresden, where we went for a day trip a month ago (that is, in the beginning of October).
Short introduction/FYI: Dresden is the capital of Saxony in East Germany near the Czech border, about 160 km from Berlin. It is situated in a valley through which the river Elbe flows. Thanks to the Elbe Valley, Dresden was granted UNESCO world heritage status in 2004. However, it lost it in 2009 due to the construction of a highway bridge. Dresden did mention the construction plans when running for the status, but the location of the future bridge was reported incorrectly – wtf? “Umm well we didn’t know where we were gonna build this bridge we’ve been planning since the 90s. Sorry bout that, UNESCO dudes.” When UNESCO found out that the futuristic-looking, massive bridge was going to be built close to the old town, it obviously went pretty berserk and eventually removed the Elbe Valley from the world heritage list. Quite an absurdly tragicomical story.
We started our day trip by wandering around Altstadt, the “old town” of the city. It actually in practice is the newer part, as it was completely destroyed in the bombings of WWII and thereafter rebuilt. I don’t know if it was precisely for that reason, but the old town seemed very impersonal and clinical, as if it were just a façade built for tourists. It didn’t have the feel of a place people live in. It was nice to see, but is hardly worth another visit.
View to Altstadt from the bridge Augustusbrücke.
Minerva at the Augustusbrücke, Altstadt and of course Elbe in the background.
A bit of the Füırstenzug (“Procession of the Princes”, but can also be translated into “train of princes”, which is much more amusing – at least if you’re humourly challenged as I am), a ridiculously big mural representing the Princes of Saxony.
Some disturbing statues/decorations at Zwinger, a baroque palace.
It got even more disturbing.
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