Dresden

We made it to eastern Germany; Dresden to be specific.  Jeff has recovered from his love affair with the minivan.  His new love is all the iPhone apps.  He doesn’t know how he traveled without the iPhone before.  Love is so fickle!

It definitely has a little different feel then western Germany.   Dresden was under communist rule until the fall of the iron curtain in 1989.  It feels like a city rich in history, building for the future (literally there are a lot construction projects going on here), but overall its just charming.  It’s a great place to people watch.  For those of you who read Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut in high school, this is the city where his story is set.  On February 13, 1945 the Allies started to drop 1500 tons of explosives on this city to ensure the Germans didn’t have a place left to hide.  With that many bombs dropped, its amazing that any of the old city survived.  But Dresden has a beautiful old skyline.  

Jeff and I have been staying a cute little hostel for the past three nights and have wandered the city by day.  We’ve slept in and relaxed.  Today we leave on a train to Prague in the Czech Republic where we plan to spend four nights.

And so it goes….

Consulting the Lonely Planet guide book from a steeple.  The mosque looking building
was actually a tobacco factory in the 1950's.

Enjoying the views in the Zwinger (opera house) courtyard.

View of the rotundra in the Frauenkirche.  This building was bombed out on Feb 13, 1945.  It
wasn't rebuilt until the reunification.

The nymph's bath, or as Jeff calls it the sprites' shower. Just one of the many fountains
found around Dresden

Little market in the middle of the altmarkt. We enjoyed a few cold
ones from their portable beer garden.