Dresden, somewhere i'd enjoy living for life.

Jesus on a Horse, 1288 - 1307 AD

Dresden was a welcoming relief, after being in Frankfurt which was pretty boring it was good to be hoping off the train to be immediately presented with sights that you know have a large history and a lot of culture that go in behind them.

Frauenkirche, Dresdens Big Daddy

Golden Man on Golden Horse

The efficient metro system in Dresden and as with all of Germany made it easy to get to my hostel lollis homestay. The hostel is located in the north side of the central city, in hip quarter of Neustadt. This place was where during under GDR rule was home to a few artists and breakaway people who wanted some freedom in their lives. After the fall of the wall, the suburb became a place where all the new liberals hung out. The 90’s influenced this place with the punk/grunge scene and so dreggs of those are still around now. But what makes this place interesting is the buildings, they are all old 4 or 5 storey close quarter homes built after being bombed out in WW2. During the free period of the 90s everyone felt it necessary to express themselves, this came in the form of graffiti. The pictures and writing on the walls of every building tell as much a story about the situation over the last 2 decades as does the buildings say about the last 100 years.

Picture of Angry Communist Man

The Projects, German Stylez

After being a little ripped from the hostel (they kept adding on to the price with you having to pay for linen, breakfast, a really big key deposit) I felt the need to relax, German styles. I need not walk much more than a hundred meters to the local dairy to buy a cool drink (beer of course, 1 euro for a big 0.5L bottle) and then go chillax at the local park with everyone else in the afternoon sun, sipping away on a tasty brew.

Having a Beer in the Park

Historic Panoramic Shot

The next day after eating my rather poor breakfast, compared to the free one at the last hostel, I borrow one of the hostels old bikes and take off to see the sights. The free bike made the hostel worth staying at, as was an authentic yester-year bike complete with a single gear, pedal breaks and curved handle bars. Dresden is a paradise for the eco friendly traveler. There is no need for a car, and biking is very enjoyable as there is plenty of bike lanes, people expect you to ride on the footpath, and you don’t need a helmet so don’t look like a dork. (Many lessons could be learnt for New Zealand).

The Gardens at Dresden

The Norse Gods Came to Town

Using the pedal power I was able to make my way around the old town and see all the historic buildings, which was really impressive especially compared to Frankfurt. Luckily bombing in the war did not destroy all of these buildings, and ones that were partially destroyed have been restored to former glory. After seeing these I felt it necessary to visit some classic communist apartment blocks. I found it interesting that these buildings were now some what a decent place to live in as have been given a new coat of coloured paint and are a lot more individual than any western mass housing project. It again was interesting and partly a shame to see that around the bottoms of every building was graffiti, suggesting the huge change people experienced here in the 90s.

Workers Unite

After a quick ride through the city gardens I took off to the town of Meissen which is 30km west of Dresden. The ride took about 1.5 hours each way, but was thoroughly worth it. Meissen is home to a large castle that was begun about 500 years ago and is still currently being worked on. The town was a small peek into what life was like before cars, and was very interesting to see how towns would have been 150 years ago and you’d almost would be better to live there presently, especially with the ability to train into central Dresden within 20 mins. The day was very hot, so thankfully the ride back was broken in two by a stop at a local beer garden (I really didn’t have any option…). With a tasty half litre of pilsner down in my belly I was able to power home.

Castle Albrechtsburg

Me and the Wall in Meissen

Sunnin' at the Castle

Refreshing Beer on the way home from the Castle

The day had exhausted me, but was definitely the best of the trip so far. Once back at the hostel there was little to do except go buy another beer from the diary and go lie on the grass at the park, it seemed so right.

Horse and Cart at the Castle

Dresden was a very interesting place, it was very forward in terms of environmental problems of large cities, but this is possibly because it skipped the evolution western cities had. The fact I could bike around easily, enjoy a beer in the park, and have easy access to attractions just out of town were all great positives. Although you could start to see that consumerism was starting to take its hold, with new malls popping up in the outer suburbs, and bright shop signs polluting the old architecture. Yet it was somewhat weird, maybe cool, that the people still dressed like it was the 90’s with gothic dress still accepted, and ¾ shorts and sandals still being rocked by the dudes. At least they aren’t trying to be anyone else except themselves.



Costs:
Hostel in Dresden 2 Nights = $80 (huge rip consdering it was going to be $60 until they added on everything else)
Beer = $2 a bottle
Food = $10 (cheaped it up at the supermarket)
Train Ticket to Berlin = $50
Total Running Costs = $3974