Neustadt Dresden

We took the train back to neustadt, and I was wishing we had a half a
day to check this area out. It had quite the lived-in feel of the
Haight in SF. Old buildings with graffiti, and funky shops, bars, and
all night food on every block. I felt right at home. But we had places
to go and things to see yet.... So I will have to make a note to
return someday!

The 'Trabbi' Stretch Limo in front of the Semper Opera House

This delightful stretch limo used to be the common means of
transportation in the GDR in its original length. Its shell is
actually made of some plastic compound, and a GDR citizen had to wait
around 10 years to get one . Production has been stopped and the
Trabbi (loving diminuitive for Trabant) has turned into a cult and
collector's item. Or even a stretch limo for a city tour...

Eischecke and Beer

As usual, we needed to fortify ourselves with some local fare: the
famous Dressen Eischecke, basically a local cheese cake with custard.
Yum.

Saxony's rulers on 25,000 porcelain tiles

...depicted from the middle ages until the end of the 19th century.
The tile wall is about 120m long and 4m high, consisting of 25,000
handpainted Meissen porcelain tiles.

Academy of the Arts

Located along the Elbe river, this beautiful academy shows the
importance of the arts in Saxony in previous centuries.

Frauenkirche - old and new

This image nicely depicts the integration of old and new elements in
the reconstruction of this church, the old and new symbol of Dresden.

Church of our Lady (Frauenkirche) in Dresden

The church in this picture was nearly completely destroyed during the
air raids in February of 1945. Only after the reunification in 1990,
discussions to rebuild the church were started. Many believed it
should remain a (destroyed) symbol of the atrocities of war. In the
end , the art lovers and architects prevailed and the church of our
lady was reopened to the public in 2005.

Communist art

Can still be found in various places in East Germany, like this
theater wall.

Nymphs among nymphs...

Guess which nymphs do not belong here...so we walked on.

Another view of the zwinger complex

Old and new

You can see the signs of reconstruction everywhere. Jana is Sitting
above the nymph baths, where the pool seemed to be the original, and
all the surruonding statues were new reconstructions.

Main courtyard of the "Zwinger"

Baroque era compound that was the center of social activities in its
time, adorned with the crown of Poland (also the duke of saxony).
Gardens, glass, fountains, statues, and current day museums.

The main square coming into old town Dresden

Old town from the northern bank of the Elbe river

We walked along the northern bank of the river, and crossed over into
old town on the bridge that leads directly into the middle of town.

Almost completely devestated by WWII, and then 50 years of neglect and
disrepair behind the curtain of communism in east Germany... The "old
town" area of Dresden is quite a contrast of historic buldings all
battered and blackened, with the polish of reconstructed statues,
buildings and ornaments. The most striking contrast were the shiny
golden statues high atop the blackened buildings.

Dresden on foot...

After quite a late evening, Jana and I set out to tour Dresden on foot
(with a little less than the usual spring in our steps).

First stop, still in neustadt, was the post office to get airmail
stamps for all the postcards. Second stop was Pfunfs milk shop. Known
in the guiness book of world records as the most beautiful milk shop
in the world, with more than 300sq meters of painted tiles on the
walls. It was gorgeous indeed... But also a stop on every bus tour,
and so packed with tourists, we went in, and left 5 minutes later. :(

...all this blogging, and we are finally catching up on bpostcards

As y'all may have suspected, it has been quite the whirlwind few weeks!

A favorite travel activity of mine is usually sending postcards...
This time around, it has been quite the new endeavour to keep up the
blog, such that every night we say we are cutting some time out for
reading and postcards, but i never seem to get to it. *sigh*

Tonight has been the night! We rolled into Dresden after a long day of
touring, checked into the hostel in the "newstadt", and wandered to a
nearby hangout to catch up with ourselves. We found an amazing little
Jem called "weinkeller" (wine cellar). Two flights of stairs down
below a bar called cafe 100, into a brick arched lair lit by
candlelight... We found our muse. A few carafes of wine later... Jana
caught us up on the blog of the day, and I/we have been composing
postcards to y'all! Such a joy to spend a little time reflecting in
the midst of all this touring.

Send us those missing addresses we requested, or you won't get you
card!!! :)