Dresden

Monday 5 May

Yesterday, shortly after leaving the Dresden station, a lady asked us in German, how to find the airport bus when we replied that we had only just arrived she answered in English. It turned that she is working in Dresden but used to live in Parkdale and teach at Brighton, Wilson St. Primary School, small world!

Today we thought we would visit some museums as the weather threatened rain but found out that every thing is closed on Monday, so set off on a walking tour of the Old Town. Around the railway station there are many modern pedestrian malls and every where we looked there were more buildings under construction, there was hardly a city block without some development. From our knowledge of WW2, Dresden was fire bombed in Feb 1945 and from all accounts totally destroyed, so we were surprised how many old building there are in the Old Town, however inside the ones we visited there were photos of the building after the bombings, in a lot of cases just a burnt out shell remained but the reconstruction has restored these old buildings to their former grandeur.

The old town hall was destroyed but the tower remained and a new “old style” building has been built around the tower. The Protestant Church of the Holy Cross has been restored in its original form but the inside is very plain almost as if a cement wash has been put on all the walls, further on, in a large square is the Church of Our Lady with a statue of Martin Luther outside, restoration of this Protestant Church was completed in 2005, aided with donations from around the world. We weren’t able to view the interior as an organ recital was in progress but hope to return tomorrow.

Today we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at one of the many street side restaurants, a schnitzel, mushrooms and hash browns, a glass of wine and coffee for two reduced the drag on my hip pocket by the equivalent of $75, next time we will eat at the edge of town. Walking on we arrived at the terrace overlooking the Elbe River and a view of the New Town, this section of town didn’t appear to have as many old buildings, beside us, where we stood was the very large classical Kunst Academy with its glass dome and the names of many old, painters, writers and philosophers engraved on its façade. Following the river around we arrived at the Roman Catholic Cathedral which had also been restored in its original style and the interior was very plain compared to the Baroque style churches we visited along the rivers. Beside the cathedral was the old Royal Palace and along the façade of the old stables building is a 102 m. long mural, the Procession of Princes, the scene, a long row of royalty on horses was first painted in the 1870s and then transferred onto 24,000 Meissen Porcelain tiles in 1904.

At the rear of the palace is the Zwinger, the home of many museums built around a large grassed courtyard with fountains, on three sides of the courtyard was a parapet which enabled us to view the intricate patterns cut into the grass and also have a close up look at the Glockenspiel with its bells made of Meissen Porcelain.

As it had started to rain we walked the 2 km back to the hostel to find that we were sharing the floor with a bus load of young secondary students running riot, kicking and banging on doors and slamming them and yelling in the corridor. We tolerated the noise for about half an hour but being a pair of “Grumpy Bums” we headed to reception seeking a teacher, who typically was resident on another floor well away from the noise. It has been relatively quite for the last hour or so but the noise level is slowly increasing again.

A & O Hostels obviously aren't concerned about people disrupting other resident peace because we have complained to reception and they don't seem to care. At midnight Ann went out and asked them to be quiet and go to their rooms and at 3:00 am I went down and got the night manager who sat in the corridor until everything was quiet. We certainly won't recommend A & O Hostels to anyone.