September 8 More Dresden

Sunday was a recovery day. We figure, based on the odometer on one of our bikes, that the ride from Prague to Dresden was 251 km. We are lucky to be in a nice hotel where the food (breakfast) is very good with excellent mini-croissants and espresso drinks, amongst other things.

We agreed NOT to meet for breakfast and just get together at 10:00 am. People could go for breakfast when they feel like it and if we see each other there, great, if not, that's o.k. too but at 10, we would make a plan for the day. We woke up at 10 minutes to 9 after going to bed about 9:30 the night before. We actually all had breakfast together since it was pretty much the same routine for everybody. E-bikes or not, it was a lot of excercise, especially in the heat.

We walked around the square in the morning then found the tourist office and booked ourselves a "hop on, hop off" bus tour around the city. Dresden is surprisingly big: well over a half million people in a condensed area but metropolitan Dresden is around 1.4 million. The central part of the city is a mixture of old, by which I mean a couple of centuries to a millennia, and new designed to look old. The city was razed in February of 1945, shortly before the end of the war by an American and British aerial bombardment. In the aftermath, buildings were reconstructed, where possible, using the materials of the destroyed buildings, many of which are built of sandstone, like a 3-D puzzle. When sandstone ages, it naturally darkens and eventually turns black so many buildings reflect the old, black sandstone combined with newer, pale sandy coloured bricks. There has been controversy over the decision to bomb Dresden because it had little strategic value as a target during the war and was bombed with such ferocity with many calling the bombing a war crime. 

Today, Dresden is a beautiful city made whole as best as can be imagined and with the hard work of the Dresden population. Even though the bombing hangs over the city like a yoke, Dresden has many public spaces like squares, parks, trails and pedestrian bridges. I had worried about what we would find here but I am really glad we have spent four days here; it is definitely worth a visit.

The night view from our hotel room.

A parade in a square. This was always ongoing all over the place.

This is a tile moasic of a history of the kings of Saxony.

"Solidarity with the civilian populations of Palestine and Israel."

Neumarkt Dresden is a very busy square ringed by restaurants busy late into the night, especially when it is warm.

And now for something completely different. Members of my crew throwing themselves under the bus!

I asked each something about the recent ride from Prague:

Kevin

Gloria

My high school buddy Pete

The Lovely Nono Nanette

Your committed blogger. 

These gloves will not be making the trip home with me.