So... What Does Dresden Even Look Like?? Free History Lesson Included (Limited Time Only)

This is a post I've been too busy lazy to write for some reason. BUT I have stories to tell of my adventures to Prague and I definitely can't put them up without showing you what Dresden is like first! So for a bit of background info- Dresden is located on the Elbe River in East Germany. There are two main areas in Dresden. Altstadt (Old Town) which is south of the Elbe River, and Neustadt (New Town) to the north of the Elbe. I live right on the river in the Altstadt which is great because it is the best of both worlds. The Altstadt is where the main shopping centers, University and historic stuff is whereas the Neustadt is where you go for pubs and clubs and restaurants. I haven't taken any photo's of the Neustadt but I'm sure you can all use your imagination and think of what an area of pubs, clubs and restaurants looks like :oP

The interesting stuff is all in the Altstadt. BUT- to appreciate it just that little bit more you must know that from the 13th to the 15th of February, 1945, England bombed the hell out of Dresden in a few air raid killing 25,000 people (mostly civilians) and destroying 90% of the town. Good ol' Wikipedia gives a good run down here. Majority of the city laid in ruins for about 40 years until the reunification of East and West Germany when many historic building were rebuilt. Even now restoration is still occurring in the Altstadt. OK... So now you can see this:

This is the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). It's a protestant church which lays in the Altstadt. During the bombings the church withstood two days and nights of attacks and the eight interior sandstone pillars supporting the large dome held up long enough for the evacuation of 300 people who had sought shelter in the church crypt. This was before succumbing to the heat generated by about 650,000 bombs that were dropped onto the city. The temperature surrounding and inside the church eventually reached 1000 degrees Celcius. The dome finally collapsed at 10 a.m. on 15 February. The pillars apparently glowed bright red and exploded with the outer walls shattered and nearly 6000 tonnes of stone plummeting to the ground, penetrating the massive floor as it fell. In 1993 reconstruction started taking place with the use of as much of the original stones as possible. Using fancy shmancy technology the approximate original position of each stone could be determined from its position in the heap. Every usable piece was measured and catalogued. This fancy technology was a computer program that could move the stones three-dimensionally around the screen in various configurations and was used to help architects find where the original stones sat and how they fit together. In this photo you can see that the darker stones are the original pieces. About 4000 blocks of original stone were reused. Pretty cool...

There's a few more awesome building like this such as: 

Semperoper (Going to see my first opera there in November)

Zwinger Palace

Hofkirche 

Now... I like the story of the Hofkirche as well. Augustus the Strong who was the ruler of Saxony wanted to be the King of Poland as well (as you do). Back then(1738) Dresden was strictly Protestant. Polish Kings had to be Catholic. Therefore Augustus the Strong ordered the building of the Hofkirche,  the Roman Catholic Cathedral, to establish a sign of Roman Catholic religious importance in Dresden. 

If August the Strong wanted something he got it... I think it's awesome! 

Check out the links for a good run down on what they are... I don't want to bore you with slabs of text... 


As I said earlier, the River Elbe runs through Dresden. I live right on it and it's really nice when the sun is shining and can't wait to see it with a bit of snow! A part along where the Altstadt is is named "Europe's Balcony" and is really nice to walk along:

Now, all of these pictures have been taking during the day, but I am sure you are all sitting there absolutely DYING to see what Dresden is like at night... well... probably not, but you're getting a photo anyway! 

I took this photo on a bridge on a walk home from the Neustadt out with friends.. It's a lot more impressive in real life, but still looks pretty neat here...

I was going to make a seperate blog on a hike I did with other International students that was set up for us (there is a really good international activities program by TU-Dresden) but I'll just throw some photos here instead. Again, for more info read here but basically the Saxon Switzerland (Sächsische Schweiz) National Park is awesome. I didn't know the area around Dresden was so beautiful and can't wait to go back when it is snowing and seeing what it looks like. The hike lasted all day and we were all stuffed afterwards but was a great way to meet new people and get to know people you've met in the clubs/pubs in the great outdoors! 

Cute little towns along the Elbe within the Sächsische Schweiz

Back in the day this was all ocean...

Nice right?!?!?!

So... that's about all I have in Dresden and the surrounds (without boring you all too much). I've just gotten back from an awesome weekend in Prague and am just waiting on a couple of photos from my mates who came to make a blog about it. But definitely check back here later this week! 

Until then... Auf Wiedersehen! xx