Trip to Dresden- Day One

This past weekend a group of us (Me, Carolyn, Maddie, Christina, Deborah, Sadie and Sam, to be exact) took a trip to Dresden. Our bus left Berlin at 9:45 and we arrived in Dresden just after noon. We started by checking in at our hostel, Lollis Homestay, in Neustadt Dresden which luckily was only about a 15 walk from where the bus dropped off. Six of us shared a six bed room, while Maddie unfortunately had to stay in another room. Overall, the hostel was great. Good sized room, clean bathrooms with a hot shower, great location and our room even had a balcony. The only downside was a very distinct, indescribable smell—mixture of cleaning chemicals, sourness and tobacco smoke. That aside, it was a great place to stay.
We started our Dresden adventure by touring the Altstadt (Old Town) district south of the Elbe River. Dresden has an interesting history filled with Saxon royalty but also a devastating history as 90% of the city was destroyed during WWII by repeated aerial bombings. Because of this the architecture is a mixture of new and old. We toured a couple of the churches- Frauenkirche, Kreuzkirche, Katholische Kirche. The Frauenkirche has a beautiful exterior as it is built partially from the stone of the ruined church from the bombings with newer white stones—creating a stunning texture of stones. Then we strolled along the Fürstenzug, which is a long porcelain painting of the Saxon kings.
After a lunch break, we walked the stairs to the tower of the Kreuzkirche which provided a beautiful panorama of the city. We visited the “Zwinger Palace” which now houses 6 museums… This structure was incredible. We walked into its courtyard just at dusk when then lights of the building started twinkling against the blue fading sky. It was such a breathtaking scene I’ll never forget.
We then walked over the Augustus Bridge into Neustadt where we found a great restaurant in the “Kunsthofpassage.” After the Wall fell, most of East Germany wanted to separate themselves from the East so they painted their houses bright colors and in artistic manners. This passageway is the best example… We accidently stumbled upon it after we were drawn to a glow of red lights and a ballet class happening on the top floor. We decided on a Spanish restaurant in this passageway which was a fantastic—I got lamb and an amazing glass of red wine.
We strolled on back to the hostel for a relaxing night of conversation before bedtime.