Farewell Dresden, Hello Paris

We made an early start - two flights today: Dresden to Munich; Munich to Paris.

We were sorry to say goodbye to Dresden. There was so much more we could have seen, given time. August the Strong left a string of picturesque palaces and castles along the Elbe that would have been fun to visit. But we certainly did well out of our few days, in terms of superb Baroque architecture, amazing sculpture and paintings, a fantastic concert, and eye-popping natural beauty.

Dresden has done much, since German reunification in 1989, to repair the utter devastation of the February 1945 firestorm. But a sadness still haunts its open spaces, like the Wettiner Platz outside our hotel. A church once stood where there are now uneven humps of grass, and a scattering of young trees. All that remains of the church are the doors, left standing as a memorial.

Many German cities endured fearful bombing - Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin for a start - but the destruction of Dresden in the last months of the war, holding a unique concentration of artistic treasure and iconic monuments to civilisation, was contentious , even at the time. The city was crammed with refugees fleeing the Russian advance. Historians and strategists have argued over it ever since. Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Dresden” Quartet no 8 in C Minor and American Science Fiction writer Kurt Vonnegut ’s Slaughterhouse 5 were directly inspired by it. Vonnegut was an American prisoner of war in Dresden at the time,, drafted with other POWs to search the rubble and bury the dead.

We had time in Munich Airport for a last lunch of delicious German sausages and the speciality breads they do so well. Then it was off to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. This has winding perspex tubes snaking hither and yon, like the moving staircases of Hogwarts. The Paris taxi drivers were on strike, but we managed after some delay to make it to our hotel. This was converted from an old apartment building, very stylish with high ceilings, small but elegant rooms, and the world’s smallest lift, just big enough for Neil and me if we don’t turn around., After our long day of travel we went for a walk in the late afternoon. The French restaurants hadn’t opened yet, but we found an Italian pizza place where we could enjoy pizza and watch the world go by while sipping a glass of white wine. On the way back we found a shop which sold specialty éclairs. Buy three and get one free! Just the thing for dessert!

On our way back we made two more discoveries: a Gothic church of St Leu - St Gilles, dating back to 1235, still being used for Mass; and a charming local park , the Square Émile-Chautemps, created in 1858 as part of the great urban redevelopment scheme of Emperor Napoleon III and his architect Baron Haussmann. This held pretty ornamental ponds, statues,, fountains, walkways and sheltering trees. Modern additions include a playground, a table-tennis table and a petanque court, in use while we were there.

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