Dresden

A day trip to Dresden today. We caught an early train for the hour journey, arriving in a relatively quiet Dresden, as we would later become aware. The Old Town was extensively damaged in WWII bombing but has been amazingly restored. We first passed the Frauenkirche, which was restored using as many old bricks in their original location as possible. This led to a patchwork of blackened and bright bricks. Up on the Brühl's terrace, you can see the ministeries of state across the Elbe. The Fürstenzug (Parade of Princes) was very quiet and we had this 100m mural of all of the rulers of Saxony almost to ourselves.

The Theatreplatz was a little busier as the day woke up. It is surrounded by the castle, opera house and Zwinger, all gothic-restored buildings. Over the bridge across the Elbe was the Golden Rider, a golden statue of Fredrich August I. The whole old town is just a lovely place to walk around. Save for a few continuing restoration works however, there was little mention of the impact of the bombing of Dresden, which was odd given the other German towns and their determination to discuss history.

Back at the Frauenkirche, we grabbed some lunch and a beer, and discussed the plans for tomorrow. Walking back to the station, the town was far busier than when we arrived!

We visited an absolutely SUPERB museum back in Leipzig about the DDR 1945-present day. We spent over two hours there before it closed and it absolutely wasn't long enough (I got to 1985 before the 15 minute closing warning!). One of the absolutely best museums we've visited.

Beer Index (Dresden) - €4.50/0.5lRead more