germany: dresden

i was on yet another bus the next day...this was an international bus, going to dresden...i didn't know it before i arrived in prague, but dresden is only two hours from prague by bus...mom said a lot of czechs used to go shopping in dresden for the day, since they could get western clothes there, for reasonable prices, compared to what was available in prague...i don't know how much that still happens, but i was just happy the transportation was easy...this bus company goes to a number of cities in europe, i'd love to use them again :)

dresden was almost completely destroyed by bombing during WWII, and the city has been almost entirely rebuilt in the years since...the historical centre survived though, and i liked the juxtaposition of modern and old architecture so close to each other...the weather during my visit was crappy, raining from time to time...
it was an easy walk from where the bus dropped me off to the historical centre, it was a pedestrian street with a lot of shops...i went into a bakery straightaway, i LOVE german bakeries...i didn't need to buy any of what i did, but it was sooo good!

During the day i wandered around the historical area...i saw the semperopera, (great outside, they offer tours of the inside)...i saw the schloss (the gardens in the middle were pretty, and i loved walking along the tops of the walls all around)...i went in a couple churches, nothing struck me as awesome...normally i love the cool temperatures of churches in summer, but with the wet weather outside, it wasn't a good feeling...my feet were cold :(...for that matter, no part of me felt good, due to the wet weather...yuck yuck yuck...then again, the wet weather was an excuse to step into bakeries a bit more :)

dresden used to have unesco designation, but then lost it...the reason for this is because the city planned to build an ugly bridge very close to the historical centre of the church...the unesco people heard about it and told the city not to build the bridge, as they would be destroying the aesthetic appeal of the centre...the city decided to build the bridge anywho, so they lost unesco designation...i don't think that happens very often! I wonder if the city has noticed a monetary loss as a result...
i walked across one of the bridges, and walked up the street on the other side...

at one end of the street was a golden statue of a guy on a horse...i'm not sure why the statue was a very bright shade of gold, it didn't really fit in with anything...the street was split into two sides, with a park line down the middle...pretty, and nice for walking...
i briefly checked into the building called markethalle, but it wasn't really a market...just small stores without walls in between...there was one produce stand, with nothing cheap...
then it was time to walk back to my bus...i stopped in the bakery again, just because i could...more pastries and hot chocolate, YUM...
mom picked me up at the bus station back in prague...i love having people meet me when i get off a bus or plane, it doesn't happen very often...