After a few hours in Halle I jumped on a train to Dresden to meet up with my friend Natale, who was eager to see a piece of the GDR after reading Stasiland, an excellent book about an Aussie who explores the East after the wall fell. I warned her in advance that we may be hard-pressed to find authentic East-German experiences 17 years after the fact, but that I’d do my best to dig something up for her. I was thrilled to have someone to talk to about my east(ern) German experience who was actually interested in hearing it.
Despite being pummeled by the Allies and then neglected by the communists, Dresden is a gorgeous city. Certain landmarks, such as the Frauenkirche and the Zwinger, have only recently emerged from extensive renovations (or in the case of the Frauenkirche, being completely rebuilt). The Altstadt is full of large, regal, beautiful buildings, and the Neustadt (which is luckily nothing like Halle’s Neustadt) is full of hip cafes and restaurants.
The one semi-authentic piece of ‘Ostalgie’ (nostalgia for the GDR) we managed to find (in addition to the occasional Trabbi) was a bar called Knast. True to its name, this place gives you a little look into what it was like to be in an East German prison (well, except no one tortures you, and you get to drink beer). But I’m pretty convinced it was almost as depressing as being in the hands of the Stasi.
What was meant to be a couple days of exploring this adorable city unfortunately turned into a couple days in bed sick for me (while Nat shopped, explored, and made trips to the pharmacy). At least we were in a nice hotel that was close to a 24-hour clinic. The doctors and nurses were exceedingly friendly and warm, and they succeeded in making me nostalgic (or rather, Ostalgic) for my time living in this culture, despite my raging fever. It was nice to be an appreciated novelty (American who spoke German and had lived in eastern Germany) instead of a common nuisance (non-Swiss-German-speaking resident foreigner) again, too.
Luckily the antibiotics kicked in soon enough for me to make my scheduled flight home without feeling like complete ass. At the airport gift shop I picked up a couple of bottles of Rotkäppchen and a Dresden shot glass to add to my collection. I boarded the plane convinced that I needed to move back to the former GDR. Now how to persuade the husband of this?
Dresden is probably the most beautiful European city I’ve been to that hasn’t been overrun by tourists yet. As opposed to its neighbor Prague, Dresden just doesn’t seem to make it onto many people’s travel itineraries, probably because you already have plenty of other German destinations on there. For what it’s worth, I really, really recommend it (but not to people who freak out if not everyone they encounter speaks English). I’m looking forward to returning soon.
We were lucky enough to visit Dresden 5-6 years ago and really liked it. We’d like to get back and see the Frauenkirche, which was in the midst of construction when we were there.
Dresden is gorgeous, your pictures make everything look remarkable. I’ll just have to add it to my list of places to visit! First I’ll try to get a copy of Stasiland, since that would be a little easier on the wallet…