A Day in Dresden

A lot has happened in the weeks since I last posted a blog. On December 1st I received our household goods and got moved into our apartment here in Stuttgart.  Everything went smoothly although it did take almost two weeks before I found all the sofa pillows.

Tom, who had been traveling for 9 weeks doing consulting work for a family friend, returned to Germany on the 13th.  He got back just in time to hardly see me for a whole week as last week was my busiest week since starting with U.S. Africa Command.  I definitely need to do a blog that covers some of the things I've been doing at work but for now I want to blog about our outing yesterday.

The USO here in Stuttgart offers trips.  Last month I signed Tom and me up for our first USO outing, a day trip to Dresden. We caught the bus at 2 a.m. Saturday morning and we were back this morning around 12:30 a.m.  The main attraction was the Christmas market, which has been going on for more than 600 years.  It is the longest running Christmas Market in Germany.  We had more than 8 hours in the city so we were able to wander around and look at other sites too.

I was interested in visiting Dresden for a couple of reasons. Dresden was part of the German Democratic Republic "aka East Germany" before Germany was reunified in 1989. So this was my first opportunity to travel behind what was the "Iron Curtain."  I also remember first being introduced to the devastating firebombing of Dresden during World War II by reading Kurt Vonnegut's book "Slaughterhouse Five" when I was working on my undergraduate degree. Vonnegut was a prisoner of war held in Dresden and he survived the bombing that killed about 25,000 civilians.

The bombing of Dresden by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force happened between 13 February and 15 February 1945.  Dresden, which had been known as the Florence of the North, lay largely in ruin.  Nearly 85 percent of the city was destroyed.  I heard the fires were so fierce that all the oxygen in the city was sucked up.  Our tour guide told us that his mother, who lived 100 kilometers away from Dresden during the war, remembers seeing the fire from her home.

Here are some pictures I found on the web showing Dresden after the bombing.













































In the last couple decades many of the city's historical buildings have been rebuilt and restoration is still ongoing.  In many instances they have reused stones and statues from the original structures.  It is pretty powerful seeing the pitch black stones mingled among the new stones.  Dresden certainly wears the scars of the war but it surprisingly adds to its beauty and doesn't take away from it.

One of the most magnificent reconstructions is that of Frauenkirche "The Church of Our Lady", completed in 2005.

Here is a picture of the site in 1967.

Here is the site today.  Notice the darker stones co-mingling with newer stone.

This is on the inside.  We were told that all of the center altar artwork was found in the rubble, restored and reassembled.  It is all original.

Here is an entry way for one of the museums.  See how the stone looks like charcoal.  


















Notice here the blackened statues on top of the building.

Here are some pictures of the Christmas Market.  The official name of the Christmas Market is Dresdner Striezelmarkt.  I read in some of our paperwork that Dresden is known for its fruit-filled cake called Dresdener Christstollen. I guess the cake has been made as far back as 1474 but at the time was known as "Striezel."  The cake is shaped to resemble the infant Jesus in swaddling clothes.  The market got its name from that dessert - "Striezelmarkt."

We did our best to dress for the elements.  I don't think it got above 20 degrees Fahrenheit the whole day.  We both had long-johns on under our clothes and wore our heaviest coats but still needed periodic breaks inside to warm up.

Here's Tommy all bundled up.  The Catholic Church, which was also restored and work continues inside, is in the background.

 














For our first weekend adventure, Dresden was great.  I think we will return in the Spring or Summer (when it's warmer) and visit the museums and other sites, perhaps take a cruise down the River Elbe.

The Gemaldegalerie Alter Meister (Old Masters' Art Gallery) features Raphael's famous Sistine Madonna, which features at the bottom two cherubs you might recognize.  Perhaps we'll see it for ourselves later this year.