Dresden

We initially thought this was going to be a boring weekend, but the complete opposite was true. Dresden was fantastic.

The city was flattened at the end of World War II and even the church photographed on the right was not rebuilt until 2005. Until then, it was just a pile of rubble in the middle of the town square.

Dresden was part of East Germany and along with its War scars, it has plenty of blemishes from this period as well. Almost all of the structures outside the city center were constructed in the communist block style (not sure if that's an official architectual term) which amount to gigantic concrete slabs. The site of these monstrosities makes you think about the nature of the Socialist experiment.

We took a side trip to the village of Meissen which produces famous porcelain products. A teacup with saucer from their factory shop will only set you back 2oo Euros. Walking through Meissen was particularly interesting because so many buildings were abandoned. We walked for about 10 minutes (along the main road) without seeing any people or cars. While we were surprised, this is symptomatic of the former East Germany where (I don't have the statistics) huge portions of the population have moved west seeking better economic opportunities. As my German teacher appropriately describes it, anyone with two legs has left the East.

Pictures to follow.