We had been told that Dresden was beautiful, but it was not typically beautiful like the other fairy tale towns we had been in recently. We had a short walking tour with our trip tour guide (Kristie from Hungary). The older buildings are black as the Germans chose to leave the buildings that had survived the bombing in WWII as they were in remembrance. The rest of the buildings had been rebuilt.
We ended our tour at the statue if Martin Luther (the original not the American) and learned some more about his and german history. We were then free to look around, so we popped into a nearby church. This was beautifully coloured in pastel colours. I am unsure of the name, but it is the women's church. Unfortunately we were unable to take photos inside do we had to settle on buying a postcard.
We then walked around and found another bomb blackened building. We were going to go to a cafe for lunch but I found out that Rafael's painting the Sistine Madonna is in Dresden. I have always wanted to see this painting so decided I had to see it rather than have lunch. Thankfully Libby was with us and she can read German, so it was very easy to find the museum. Stef went and had a burger at an Irish pub with Maew, Lee and Libby.
When I walked into the room with the painting, I was awestruck. It was beautiful and I am so glad that I decided to see it. It is the 500 year anniversary of the painting so there was a lot of information about it and other paintings and sketches by Rafael on display. There is nothing quite like seeing a masterpiece up close like that (and not too crowded either)!
In my way back to the bus I had a bratwurst (sausage) and pretzel from a street vender. A very filling lunch for only €3.50.
The drive from Dresden to Berlin was only 200kms but took a while because of roadworks. It was also rainy most of the day. When we arrived in Berlin we had a bus tour past a section of the Berlin wall, the parliament, a street full of museums, the Brandenburg gate, and lots of places of interest where various things happened during and after WWII. We also stopped at a park the soviets built in East Berlin to commemorate the soldiers they lost in WWII. We have learned so much about WWII, communism and European history since we have been here. It had inspired us to learn more when we get home (yes that includes Stef).
We returned to the hostel for a dinner of potato and sausage soup (surprisingly delicious), salad and schnitzel (too dry), and strudel (don't like soggy bread. After dinner we walked all a long section of the Berlin wall which was painted with amazing graffiti work after it was opened. Maew and Lee joined us, along with Chris, another NZer on our trip.
Tomorrow we have a third reich walking tour which should be interesting, then a free afternoon. Tomorrow night we have a pub crawl and will be checking out Berlin's nightlife... Looking forward to it!
Photos:
1. Stef in Dresden with blackened building
2. Me with Berlin wall art
3. Stef with Berlin wall art
4. Maew, Lee and Stef kicking down Berlin wall
5. Soviets war memorial in East Berlin
6. Awesome art at Berlin wall
7. Me andy poster of The Sistine Madonna (no photos of painting allowed).
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