How lucky we are – bright blue skies and sunshine yet again. Today Ulrike had very kindly agreed to be our tour guide and share her knowledge of Dresden with us. We walked across the road to catch the tram into the city, and our eyes were immediately drawn to some decorated roadside 'boxes': these were mostly telephone connection boxes, painted in intricate designs to hide their origin and discourage graffiti – a great idea which really worked.


 Dresden's tram network is the most extensive we have ever seen, with lines going in every direction and mostly using the centre of the roads; they run every 10 mins and the time of the next one is displayed at each stop so you always know how long you will have to wait. We caught the next tram to the Altstadt (Old Town) and alighted at the nearest stop to our starting point in the Neumarkt, a large open square in the centre.

 





The city was virtually flattened by British and American bombers in WW2 but has undergone an extensive rebuilding programme over the last 20 years; the decision was taken to rebuild exact replicas of the original buildings, using any existing pieces where practical, and our first sight of Neumarkt was stunning. We looked at the house of Heinrich Schutz, a composer who was also the Elector of Saxony from 1629. His house was one of the reconstructed ones, built by a famous architect called Christopher Walther, and decorated with a frieze of children which survived the bombings.


 We crossed the square in front of the statue of Martin Luther, a proud son of Dresden, and approached probably the most famous Baroque building in the city, the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). This was completely destroyed in 1945, but rebuilt in magnificent style – the exterior is a mixture of new and original stone, easily identified by its darker colour; the old stone forms 45% of the church. Round the other side is a large piece of the original, left as a monument and reminder of its destruction.


 Many pieces of the dome were saved, and when the reconstruction was finished, a 6m gold cross to top the lantern was given by the British and American governments to honour the fallen. The inside is stunning, with balconies and arches sweeping round at 4 levels; the walls are richly decorated but the altar is wonderful, with paintings and sculptures incorporating surviving pieces of stone decorations.

 The signs said No Pictures, but almost everyone inside was ignoring that, so I'm afraid I did too.


 Behind the church is another great building, the Cosel Palace (now The Grand Café) named after a mistress of August ll. She must have been very important to him, as her palace is beautiful in yellow and white with crenellations and decorations everywhere!


 We marveled at the Art School, yet another impressive building, then headed down to Auguststrasse to see the Procession of Dukes, a monumental tiled picture of the rulers of Dresden from the 1100s to the early 20^th century. It is made from Meissen tiles and extends over 100m, showing the pictures and names of each of the Dukes. Most of them had a nickname and Ulrike translated them for us: the Strong, the Proud, the Rich, the Stubborn etc. Somehow it survived the air raids and is a beautiful monument.


 Emerging into the Schlossplatz, we just stood and admired the panorama: the Augustus Bridge across the river Elbe to Neustadt (New Town), the Catholic Hofkirche, the Dresdner Schloss, royal residence of the kings of Saxony, the monument to August the Righteous, and the George Gate leading into the old town. There were throngs of people around, all doing what we were ie. taking photos and just enjoying the atmosphere. 

 
 We returned to the old town through the George Gate and into the stable courtyard of Dresden Castle, decorated with stone replicas of hunting trophies and 3D coats of arms of all those dukes. It was a cool walk under the arches, which led to the castle itself: it houses several parts of the Dresden Museum, including the famous Green Vault containing incredible amounts of amber, jewels and silverware. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go inside there and do it justice, or in the Turkish Room with its weapons and armour. Next time!


 Ulrike led us to the Zwinger, a palace built in rococo style with extensive gardens. It houses several museums containing porcelain, mathematical & physical instruments and old masters but again we didn’t really have time to see them (another job for next time we visit) so we contented ourselves with admiring the entrance gateway, the fountains and gardens and the very ornate Crown Tower. The grounds are used for festivals but today they were filled with strolling tourists like us.


 Next stop was Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross), the evangelical church which is the largest in Saxony. This is much less ornate than the Frauenkirche but has a simple beauty all of its own (and many fewer people inside); the organ is particularly fine. Lunch was calling, so we crossed the road to a small fairtrade restaurant where we had a very nice meal and a rest.


 Rested and fortified, we headed back through the Neumarkt and accessed Bruhl’s Terrasse by the river via the Art School and Albertinium, the museum of Modern Art. We didn’t go inside, but the outside is magnificent, all decorated with black and gold statues in the Renaissance style. We had good views across the river to the Neustadt (New Town), our next destination; paddle steamers take visitors up and down the Elbe giving a different perspective on both sides of Dresden, but we walked across the Augustus Bridge.


 Neustadt is very different to Altstadt, with less ostentatious buildings and the High St gave us a good insight into the architectural style on this side of the river. It is full of shady plane trees, with designer shops, cafes and artists’ studios, and although it is called NEW Town, it dates from the 1700s. We stopped to look inside the Church of the Three Magi, where there is an interesting pictorial diary of its’ building & rebuilding.


 We followed the shade through the covered market all the way to Albertplatz, the main tram junction where there are 2 fountains called Still Waters and Troubled Waters. The tram took us through Neustadt until we alighted at Pfund’s Dairy, known as the prettiest dairy in the world and a statement with which we would not disagree. It is incredibly ornate, every inch decorated with embellished tile paintings but sadly with signs everywhere saying No Photographs. I managed to get one through the doorway but didn’t try any more as the staff were extremely vigilant.


 There was nowhere to sit in the small café area so we hopped back on the tram and went to visit the 3 palaces on the River Elbe. We chose to stop at the Lingner Palace and walked through the wooded grounds to the terraced café for a drink. We sat at a table overlooking the Elbe and the southern part of Dresden, a lovely view over fields and cycle paths and enjoyed a Radler beer – lovely and cool in the temperature which had now hit 35°C. 


 Time was ticking on, so we reboarded a tram then walked to the funicular railway to get us down to the Blue Wonder Bridge across the Elbe. The high area of Weisser Hirsch was one of the most expensive residential areas of Europe and the houses certainly bore witness to that. As we crossed the bridge, we looked back at the palaces high on the cliffs, then at crowds and crowds of people streaming towards the Brauhaus by the bridge – a giant screen had been erected in the beer garden so people could watch Germany playing their first World Cup match. 
 
  

We left them to it, bought an ice cream to carry on the cooling process then visited the Oxfam shop where Ulrike volunteers; she is in charge of books (among other things) and I was lucky enough to find some novels in English I hadn’t read! The tram finally took us back to Uli’s house where we collapsed into the shower followed by copious amounts of cool drinks. Uwe had cooked the meal and presented us with a typical meal from his youth in the GDR: potatoes and hard boiled eggs in a home-made tomato sauce. We finished it off with strawberries from the garden and it was all totally delicious, a lovely end to a great day.