Dresden, Germany

While staying in Prague, our group took a day trip on Saturday to Dresden, Germany. We weren't sure what to expect. Many people to,d us Dresden was a very gloomy, depressed city. That we would be unwelcome there as Americans, and that it would be a very dreary day. As we climbed off the train upon our arrival into Dresden, "gloomy" couldn't be further from our minds. It was a beautiful sunny day and we watched a community clean-up day, complete with a musical band. We took the tram to the German Military History Museum. It was a huge modern museum, complete with five floors and just unbelievably full with artifacts and information. We spent a couple of hours trying to comb through the information, but you would need weeks to go through everything properly. 

Walking up to the museum in Dresden.

After leaving the museum, we made our way to the Dresden Town Square, which was complete with the Church of Our Lady, a Luthern Church, and a statue of Martin Luther in front of it. The church itself had been demolished after the bombing of Dresden that happened in Febraury 1945 during WWII. Reconstruction began later and almost 4,000 stones from the original church were able to be salvaged and used in the reconstruction. These stones can be seen today as the darker stones that are speckled throughout the church. 

The Luthern Church in Dresden, Germany. The darker stones that appear on the church are the original stones from the church before the bombing. They were able to use some of the stones in the reconstruction of the church. 

Our afternoon began with lunch outside just off the square. Katie, Abby, Alyshia and I shared wine and German meals of sausage, dumplings, chicken, and roast as we enjoyed the sunny weather. Our day in Dresden was actually a wonderful day, and it was just the right amount of sight-seeing and information, topped off with a little bit of relaxing.

A statue in Dresden is silhouetted by the setting sun. 

The four of us girls after lunch in Dresden.  (L-R: Abby, Katie, Alyshia and I)