I’ve been in Dresden now for about three nights and to be honest I’ve been trying to write about it for about that long as well. I’m not really sure why it’s been so difficult to put my thoughts down about this city, but for posterity I want to write something so here goes.
The first thing that comes to mind is that much of it is very picturesque almost out of a storybook. It’s got great old churches and a beautiful waterfront, there were times that I felt that I had stepped back in time to the 17th century. Those times were reinforced when the church bells from all over the city would go off at the same time. It’s hard not to fall in love with the architecture in the old part of the city, it really is spectacular.
The second thing that comes to mind is that it’s very commercial. The main street in the old part of town is nothing more that a shopping center built in a mix of Soviet and Western styles. Not very pretty to look at and not really something that I especially want to see. It’s been something that I’ve tried to understand for some time now, whenever there is a tourist destination, it seems that much of the buildings are filled with regular stores. I understand why sometimes, but if you’re shopping for Levis do you really travel to Dresden, what about cell phones, does Dresden have the best deals? Like I said I do understand for the most part, but you have to see how overboard some of these towns get.
The last thing that I don’t want to mention, but it really has formed my opinion much more than I’d like to admit, is that the people here aren’t very pleasant. I’ve tried to be nice and to speak as much German as I can, but they just aren’t a warm group. They don’t yell like Russians, and they aren’t mean like Bulgarians, they just aren’t friendly and for someone who is traveling alone, it makes for a less than fun stay. I think I remember reading that Dresden was part of East Germany, so that would explain their “coolness.”
I leave for Amsterdam tomorrow afternoon and will arrive at 5 in the morning. I’m looking forward to seeing if all the stories that I’ve heard about it are true. I’ve only scheduled two nights there because I am starting to run a little bit behind. I had to stay in Stockholm an extra day, and here in Dresden for an extra night as well. After Amsterdam I will head to Brussels and then across the channel to Great Britain. I’ve really been thinking about renting a car in Britain to make the journey to Scotland and Ireland a little bit more spontaneous.
