Following Weimar and our adventures in community service we took about a 2 hour train ride to Dresden where we met up with our guide, Helmut, from Potsdam (the one who took us to all the palaces around/near Berlin). There we had the opportunity to explore the city (that like Weimar, used to be a part of East Germany).
We had a chance to talk with Helmut, who grew up in Dresden about what it was like to live there before, during, and after WWII. It was really interesting to hear his story, to hear how he felt during that time and how much he had wanted to leave the East for the West. He also talked about his mom and her life during Hitler's reign - he basically said that she knew something was going on, but it wasn't something that they talked about. Like people in Dresden had an idea of what was happening, but they weren't really allowed (socially or politically) to talk about it. He also mentioned how once he moved to the West, he was really excited to wear blue jeans - random I know, but I thought it was funny.
We also had the chance to see one of the major landmarks of German baroque architecture - the Zwinger. The Zwinger is basically this big, beautiful palace with all of these courtyards, fountains and statues. It was designed in celebration of the coronation of Louis XIV as King of Poland in 1697 (since Germany is a fairly new country, lots of cities that are now a part of Germany, used to belong to others such as Poland and Prussia) - I must say, however, that the palace itself is a pretty remarkable place.
Other than initially exploring the city (seeing the palace and some churches) we didn't really spend much time in Dresden, as we ended up taking a day trip out into the countryside. But here are some pictures of the things that we did see:
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| Along the Elbe River |
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| The Palace in Dresden |
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| View of the Palace courtyard from above |
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| At the top of the Clock Tower |
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| Dresden along the Elbe at night |
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