Dresden with the Boyntons

Zwinger. Cody tries to sneak away from the Selfie stick.

Midway though our visit with Mom and Dad Boynton, we departed Berlin for a weekend in the southern city of Dresden. Taking short regional trips is something we are trying to focus on since there is so much to see within a couple hour train ride. So with the goal of exposing our erstwhile parents to how we roll over here, we threw everyone on a train and took off for the weekend to explore what was once known as the “Florence on the Elbe.” 

Old town alleyways in abundance. All buildings were rebuilt after the war.

One does not spend much time in Dresden before you run across a reference to a gent known as Augustus the Strong. As the Elector of Saxony, Augustus enjoyed breaking horseshoes with his bare hands and apparently fathered over 300 illegitimate children. The nickname may have come partly from these escapades but also from the great wealth he amassed during this time as a result of various political alliances and military expeditions he undertook. 

A lover of fine things, Augie collected swords, armour, jewels and crystal carvings from the finest craftsmen in Europe and in 1732 opened up one of the first public museums (The Green Vault) in Europe to display them. Miraculously much of it has survived down through the centuries. It is one of the more fascinating places I’ve been as it is housed inside his former palace building and carries all of the above items plus other tidbits like a 16th century cherry pit that has 100 faces carved into it. Or a fully-intact Turkish campaign tent from the same time period.

Ottoman mounted cavalry 

Ceremonial Muskets (Gifts to Augie from the Turks)

However Augie’s most enduring legacy to the city was his penchant for building Baroque palaces, courtyards and cathedrals. One after another. Dresden is now defined by these constructions and they do not disappoint. The city itself sits on a bend in the Elbe river and the old town is packed with these Baroque gems. A raised promenade runs along the length of the river offering a view of the water on one side and a view into the tightly-packed and hopelessly scenic cobblestoned altstadt on the other. 

Zwinger. Continually referred to as the "Outer Bailey", whatever that means.

Augie memorial statue detail with his Schloss palace in background.

Due to its size, the old town is a fairly easy ramble for an afternoon, so our first day was spent doing just that. At a park at one end of the promenade the kids found a hill sloping down to the river. There are no terrain features in Berlin to speak of, so whenever a “hill” is spotted, they run over and roll down it, steamrollering each other over and cackling like maniacal little gremlins. That night I went back out to get some nighttime long exposure pics.

Zwinger Courtyard

And they come up with these poses on their own.

The other main historical event that involved Dresden was the firebombing of the city in February, 1945. Immortalised in Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5, the bombing gutted the city and killed 100,000 people. The event is controversial and surfaces the larger conversation of whether US and British strategic bombing actually had a measurable effect on Germany’s war effort. It is especially poignant for Dresden since the city was not a military target (no arms factories or important rail infrastructure) and was far away from any German troop concentrations. 

The Frauen Kirche, a stately structure that stood as a town landmark since the 1700’s was one of the victims of the raid. Miraculously it was not actually hit during the raid, but everything else around it was, and the fires eventually found their way into the church itself. Once the combustible materials inside caught, the searing heat starting flaking the sandstone support pillars for the massive roof dome. Eventually they weakened and the dome collapsed in upon itself. The fires overwhelmed any fire brigade response, so everything had to just burn itself out. By that time all of the downtown core was ashes.

The Frauenkirche's original cross survived the fires.

After the war, Dresden lay in the Communist GDR, and the ruins of the Frauen Kirche then assumed a political role. They sat in the middle of the city, fenced off, preserved as a visual reminder of the horrible things the West does. No attempt was made to rebuild it.

Then came reunification. One of the aspects of this was investing in the former East Germany to bring the infrastructure back up to Western standards since the GDR lacked the funds to keep pace. In order to pay for this, every German earning a paycheque (and by extension, every Expat working in Germany) gets 5% taken off the top of their gross pay for the SolidaritatsBeitrag. The tax was established just after reunification and since it is now a “fact on the ground” it isn’t likely to ever go away. 

But, it is quite useful for doing things like rebuilding incredibly huge and complex Baroque churches in Dresden, and the Frauen Kirche is now, after the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the most recognised symbol of Germany’s reuniting after the Wall. Private contributions and associations were also set up for the Frauen Kirche since it was such a cherished monument, so it wasn’t all due to the “rebuild the East” tax.

Restored Frauenkirche, now with loge seating.

Some of the original blocks were used in the construction. Those are the blackened ones spaced here and there throughout the facade of the church. 

In addition to the Frauen Kirche, Dresden also has a brand new (remodelled on the old design) train station and all of its Baroque palaces and cathedrals rebuilt. The place is scenically mind-blowing, and it is well-designed to get people there to see it. A wide pedestrian route lined with shops and international brands takes new arrivals from the train station straight to the downtown hotels in a 15 minute walk. A new symphony building is going up and extending further out from the downtown core we find old run-down heaps being turned into atmospheric clubs, museums and offices to attract business.

On the Frauen Kirche main square an archaeological dig was in progress. An alumni contact from Thunderbird, Jarek Budny, met us for lunch and talked about the history of Dresden and this dig. Apparently underneath the whole city centre are the remains of Middle Ages settlements. Everytime someone wants to dig to put up a new building downtown, or demo an existing one, they run into ancient ruins in the cellars. This makes it quite expensive to start any such building project since the rules are that you must then hire a team of archaeologists to study and record everything, which can quite honestly take a couple years. Then you have to build a protective structure around the ruins and ensure access to the public after you’ve completed your building project. 

So one of these was in progress. Quite amazing, since you can look through the fencing and see still-intact medieval arches on doorways alongside cisterns and house walls and foundations. 

Overall, Dresden provides a super high return on the visuals for being just a short (1.5 hours) train ride from Berlin. There are a couple more museums and kid items to do here, so we’ll get back here to enjoy the scene again.