East Germany Part 1: Saxon Switzerland/Dresden

                                                                                                                                         (Author: Devin)

After our week in Western Germany, we headed East.  We wanted at some point to spend a bit of time away from the major cities, and had heard of a beautiful area known as “Saxon Switzerland” (in the region of Saxony) that looked ideal for quiet scenery and outdoor hiking and relaxation.  So after catching a very long bus ride to Dresden, we hopped on the train to Bad Schandau, a small mountain town with a cozy place to stay.  It was late when we finally got in, very cold, not another soul for miles – eh, kilometers.  But, how to get to the hotel?  Rachel tried calling, and… nobody spoke English.  Eventually, with frost in our boogers, we managed to use a combination of her semester’s worth of German and awkward hand signals to get a taxi ride. 

A real surprise bonus to our time in Bad Schandau was discovering that Holly, one of Rachel’s college roommates and bridesmaid, so happened to be in Prague with some friends right then.  Being only a two hour drive, she and her seven friends piled into a five-seater and came to meet us!  We had so much fun hiking to waterfalls and amazing viewpoints, getting to reconnect with Holly and hanging out with her incredible friends, who were from ALL over the world.

We then took the train back into Dresden where we stayed with Wolf, an old high school friend of Rachel’s.  He and his whole family were awesome, and it was so fun getting to know them better and seeing the everyday life of an East German family.  They were incredible hosts, and it was a special treat to sit down with them for dinner every night – grandparents included!  Dresden is a fascinating city, and Wolf was obviously very proud of it and extremely informative.  The difference between East and West Germany, with the war history and Communist legacy, and their modern struggle for identity was truly eye-opening and intriguing.  The skyline of the old city as seen from along the river is breathtaking. One of our favorite aspects was the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche). This church was an icon of the city, and was bombed during the war. For forty years, it was left in ruins, until 1994, when they began the 11-year process to rebuild it. Rachel sung a very moving song about this church when she was in high school for a Veteran’s Day concert, and it was surreal for her to actually get to walk through it.  It is astonishing how they rebuilt it using both new stones and ones from the old structure.  Also, a favorite fun fact was that the city’s Catholic Church long ago had to be built literally on the King’s “front lawn” because, although the King was Catholic, the mainly Protestant population didn’t want a Catholic church built on public city ground.

The Frauenkirche at night, you can see the different color of stone mixed in the use.

The skyline of the old town - so beautiful.

A beautiful church along the river.

The real highlight of our time in Dresden was New Year’s Eve.  We had heard that this was a big deal in Germany, but nothing could have prepared us for what happened.  Beginning around 6pm, there were fireworks being set off at random around the neighborhood… and not little ones either.  These things shook the walls!  As the hours rolled on, the entire city became a microwavable popcorn bag at the 2 minute mark, until we finally made our way down to the riverfront around 10pm where every street was totally packed with people lighting off insanely massive fireworks right and left. 360 degrees of what were essentially mortar simulators, not even a speck of silence for a good four or five hours, the city awash in thick smoke; it was quite literally a danger zone!  The storm raged on way past midnight, and in the morning there were huge piles of fireworks and trash in all of the streets.  We had made it out alive. For our last evening spent in Dresden, we can certainly say that we "went out with a bang".