Dresden

Dresden

On the 28th we left Berlin for Dresden. Dresden is an absolutely gorgeous city (seems like I keep saying that, I must like this style of architecture), but after Berlin fell in WWII the center of the city was bombed. No one is sure of the reason it was bombed because the war was basically determined and the city had no industry. Unlike Berlin, the citizens of Dresden decided to rebuild in the city exactly as it was. Looking at the old churches and buildings it was obvious what part of the building had been destroyed and which part had survived. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

I don’t know if you all have noticed, but my blog is not nearly as detailed as my entries from Chile. This is because my ability to use the Internet here is not so good. Every hotel charges by the hour to use the internet (this hotel in Munich charges by the 15 minutes). So, I am unable to look up and check my facts about the buildings and history. Sorry. I’m not even sure if you care, but it’s fun for me to learn more about the city I’ve visited. This is just as much an online blog as an online diary for me about my trip.

Dresden has castles and palaces and museums and small shops and beautiful churches. I really really loved this city. We stayed with the sister of my dad’s cousin’s wife (if that isn’t confusing). It was fun to meet another side of the family and they have invited me back to visit. Hopefully, I will learn some German this semester and then I can go back and actually understand the conversations and even watch TV.

When I was in Chile, the majority of the shows were American shows with Spanish subtitles. That was nice for me, and if the shows were in Spanish I could at least speak the language. Here, not a chance. Unless I want to watch CNN all day….

Word of advice…. Learn at least a little bit of the language before you go to that country or bring a lot of DVDs. I have plenty of books and magazines, but after a long day of reading information at museums the last thing I want to read is BusinessWeek or BeeWoman.