Day Four - Picture Time!

Change of Plans--Tourist Day!

My original plan for today was to take a ride up the Elbe, but unfortunately due to various circumstances (couldn't buy pump due to shops closed on holidays, got a late start due to insomnia, weather wasn't too great), I decided to hold off on that. Instead, I left my bike at home, grabbed my digital camera, and took to the streets on foot: just the way God intended it to be.

Ariel View of the City from my Kitchen Window

What can I say but that I have a thing for relatively flat cities/towns surrounded by not-too-impressively-tall mountains? So in additional to lots of green space, this is what we mean by "green city." You may think you're looking at low-density single-family homes and parks, but in reality those buildings are four-story tall multi-tenant apartment buildings that more or less meet the street. Yes, there are streets hidden underneath that canopy of trees! Also notice the socialist-style architecture of the high-rises off in the distance. This is quite a common sight in Dresden as a relic from the socialist rebuilding era.

Altstadt Tourist Area





Yeah, so this is the part of Dresden that German tourists come to and take pictures of. I couldn't tell you what any of these buildings are, other than the fact that they're beautiful. This is only a subset of the pictures I took, but I suppose it's enough to give you a general idea.

Dresden's True Story


The last picture under the previous heading is taken inside of a courtyard, and this picture is taken just outside of the courtyard. I think it shows just how devastating the firebombing was, and the ugliness that replaced some of the beauty you saw in the previous set of photographs.

Young People Drinking in a Field


Perhaps the main reason I chose to take/share this photograph is because this is illegal in the United States. I know that I, personally, did not feel that my safety was threatened by the chemical properties of liquids being consumed on this particular field, but to each his own. This is on the Neustadt (center of life for young people in Dresden) side of the river, just across from the architecturally impressive buildings under the "Alstadt Tourist Area" heading. Just as Reimund told me it would be, they were all in large groups, huddled around several cases of beer. Notice how poorly kept the grass is. This seems to be quite common of the green space in Dresden, including the very large park that I like to hang out in. Other than that the park is very nice, but apparently the city doesn't own lawnmowers or something. What's even stranger is that this particular field is right across the river from the tourist area.

Transportation


This photograph is not intended to be aesthetically pleasing, but it more or less visually explains the transportation situation in Dresden. To those of you who hate wide roads/corridors as much as I do, don't worry; this is one of only a handful of major arteries through the city (unfortunately my bedroom window happens to overlook the intersection of two of said major arteries!). Anyways, the white-bricked path on the right is for pedestrians, and to the left of that we have a red-bricked path for cyclists. Then there are the tram tracks, followed by paved lanes for automobiles. Although I have not yet had a reason to use it, the public transportation seems very comprehensive for a city of this size (~500,000). No, it's not quite the mega-metro-systems of the larger cities, but I have noticed that American cities of this size seem to have what I like to call "poverty transportation" (these observations are principally based from my experiences in the cities of Baltimore, MD and New Orleans, LA). That is, the city provides a minimal system of public transportation to satisfy those who are not financially eligible to be a part of the car-owning elite. This is certainly not the case here, as I have observed buses and tram-cars packed with what appears to be an accurate cross-section of the population.

An Incomplete Picture

The pictures I have shown you represent the pre-firebombing glory days, and I have also touched upon the post-firebombing socialist rebuilding. Both of these aspects play a very small role in the visual make-up of modern-day Dresden, however. Most of the streets resemble what I have always imagined a typical European city looks like (very visually appealing). One of these days I well get around to taking pictures of some more typical streets to give you a better idea of what the city actually looks like.

Conclusions and Farewell

Thanks again to those of you who are keeping up, and I can't stress this enough: comment! You don't need to have something earth-shattering to write; just acknowledging that you read is good enough!