July 4, 2022
Day 83: Pirna to Dresden
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It was a privilege to be able to sit nd talk with Thomas and Jana. Travel, especially bicycle travel, opens our eyes to other countries, to both the good and the bad, as far as you can spot it from the bike saddle. But talking to the local people is another dimension again.
For Thomas and Jana, talking to us had an equal benefit, in learning more about Canada an also the U.S. A lot of times what we know of other countries is very general, and can also be influenced by popular opinion in our home culture. So for example, it was news to Thomas and Jana that the French and English in Canada have had an ongoing conflict, that the country almost split along linguistic lines in an 1995 referendum, and that in Quebec even today new legislation is intensifying the language based conrontation.
We talked about regional disparity in Canada, and in the U.S., the impact there of the 2008 financial crisis, the hollowing out of cities and economies in the US Northeast, reasons for right wing revival, and so forth.
In turn, we learned lot that we did not realize about the former GDR, about German reunification, and about the current effects of the Ukraine War. Here are just a few points that frankly were news to us:
In reunification, the removal of the wall dissolved protection that had allowed GDR industries to exist, however inefficiently. This produced for them and for workers the option of shutting down, of moving West, or of heavily reinvesting, with the attendant risks. Many were forced to move, producing local economic disruption and/or family stress. Losing your job and/or business did not necessarily feel like "liberation". Some of this explains the rise in the East of neo-right wing politics. It's similar to the same rise in the U.S. in regions disrupted by globalisation or new environmental constraints or technical change.
In GDR people may have been poor, but they had relatively cheap if basic food, job security, and maybe cramped, but affordable accommodation. This changed with reunification, heavily impacting many.
About Ukraine - some countries in the EU will be able to draw on non-Russian energy and be ok. Also Germany's strong economy has supported many. Germany's adjustment away from Russian energy will cause inflation domestically and weaken Germany's ability to support others. Germany can, for instance, use hydrogen derived from renewable energy when it is in surplus, but adjustment like that takes time.
We shared lots more insights about culture and economy in our country and theirs. It was great, but of course created a rather late bedtime. Worth it, though, I think we all agreed.
We had time today for a little extra sight seeing, so we cut across the river to where the Pirna altstadt is, and had a peek. We found solid and nice buildings, many from the 1800's, and a good selection of pleasant retail shops or restaurants. There was not a huge wow factor, but as I often observe, it was way more than we can show a visitor near our house.
Out by the river, we again noted the steam powered paddle wheelers, that ply up and down perhaps from Meisen to Whelen or points between. We are not quite sure of their routes, but they do chug pleasantly, and occasionally whistle.
The cycleway from Pirna to Dresden continued to be perfect, and to support a large number of pedalers going both ways. There were obvious day trippers and some clear long distance travellers. In any event, the path just stopped being an issue, it was just fine!
Not far out of Dresden there appeared at least three chateaus or castles on the other side (right side) of the river. We knew nothing of these, and just voted between ourselves on which was the most attractive. It turns out that Dresden has at least 10 such castles, at least one built in the 1400's, and that they served as fortresses or vineyards or luxury homes. We read about this in "10 Castles Near Dresden".
The castles along the river were just foretaste of some of the rather magnificent buildings soon to come. Dresden has a very chequered and interesting history about its old buildings, and we'll comment on that shortly. But as we cycled in, it looked great, an with domes reminiscent of Salzburg.
We rolled into the main square, by the Frauenkirche, which is called Neumarkt. It is very large and open, in large part, we think, because of clearance of war damaged buildings.
In another feat of Booking prowess, Dodie had us in a hotel that is directly on the square, called the townhouse. The building is certainly a reconstruction, making it no more than 70 years old and likely much less, but it definitely fits in. Inside it has a new modern, expensive, hotel feel.
We had arrived exceptionally early, but they said our room was there and we could go in, while stashing the bikes in the basement with the elevator. So we had the fun of pushing them fully loaded right to reception, by the elevator.
From our room we look directly onto the main square, with the church jut around the corner to the left. Those umbrellas are from the hotel's Italian restaurant. Do you think people will soon start drinking, smoking, and throwing pizza? Right now, by contrast we are enjoying listening to a violin busker in the square. Of course we have already noticed that he basically knows only two songs. One of these is Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. We are tickled to hear this composition by Montreal native all the way out here.
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The modern history of Dresden begins with its fire bombing, in February 1945. In summary:
"Between 13-15 February 1945, over a thousand heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force and the U.S. 8th Air Force struck the city of Dresden in eastern Germany. On the night of 13 February, the British bombers created a firestorm which engulfed the city's center. The 8th Air Force's B-17s, sent to Dresden to bomb its rail yards, attacked over the next two days. The two waves of American bombers restarted fires throughout the city and added to the destruction. Until this point, Dresden, renowned for its cultural and historical significance and known to be crowded with refugees fleeing the Soviet advance, had largely escaped bombing by the Allies. Shortly after the bombs had fallen, controversies about the military necessity of the attack arose, which continue to this day. The number of civilian casualties also came into question, with claims made of up to a quarter million killed. In 2008, an independent historical commission formed by the city of Dresden concluded that approximately 25,000 lost their lives in the attack."
The Tourist Information, which is next door here, has a display about the effect of the bombing. The scenes are what you would expect:
Under the subsequent Communist government, clearance and reconstruction was slow. Some plain utilitarian buildings were put up, but in particular the once iconic Frauenkirche stayed in ruins, until 1990. At that time through a citizens' initiative a "Call from Dresden" went out to the world for assistance in rebuilding. This was successful, and in 2005 the reconstruction was completed. In the reconstruction, as many original bricks as possible were used. Other material was sandstone, from the cliffs we saw yesterday. It is striking today to look at the walls and see what is original and what is replacement.
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Inside, the church is quite glorious, with the special feature that you can walk up along those galleries and look down or at the ceiling.
The city map that we got from the hotel front desk listed a further 36 things to see downtown. The list gave us a little trouble, since it was in German, but basically we could make it out. Some things were basically incomprehensible in any language, though. Like what is the "Zwinger". There are of course scads of Dresden guidebooks, not to mention the Internet, so our ignorance is really no excuse. But all we wanted to do was to quickly swoon around, and say "Oh, yeah, neat".
That is not to say we didn't drop in to the TI. Mainly I wanted a map of the State (Saschen) to follow our progress in the coming days as we cycle on. Dresden is the State capital, so you would think a state map could be had here. But no, in the way of TI's, their funding comes from the city and their game is to send you to accommodation or activities in the city. A map showing how to get out of here is therefore clearly not on. Lost on them all is that if they cooperate they can send tourists effectively from one to the other. Well anyway, the lady was quite surly about it, just saying we should go buy the map in a bookstore (but failing in her duty by not directing us to such a local merchant!)
The sort of mall containing the TI, like our hotel, looked and smelled new and glitzy. If this is in any way copying the US, they neglected to copy the idea of free washrooms. Instead they had new and glitzy toilet money collection!
Oh well, we made our way to a few of the major things, without benefit of much knowledge. One of these is the "Procession of the Kings", which is a mural made from Meisen tile, on the side of (we think) a royal residence.
Here is a bit of the story:
"Large mural of a mounted procession of the princes of Saxony, made out of 25,000 Meisen porcelain tiles. 102 meters long and 9.5 meters high (957 m2), it is one of the largest porcelain artworks in the world. It shows the thousand year history of the Princely house of Wettin. By 1589, the wall where the picture stands was already decorated with a chalk picture. For the 800th anniversary of the house of Wettin another stucco version was commissioned and executed by Wilhelm Walther, but it deteriorated rapidly. From 1904 to 1907 the current picture was constructed with Meissen porcelain tiles, directed by Walther himself. The mural depicts 35 Saxon kings, from Conrad, Margrave of Meissen to George of Saxony, and 58 other persons."
Another nearby dramatic building is the Cathedral, built in 1738. It too was heavily damaged (or almost totally destroyed), but we don't the history of its reconstruction. Certainly you can also see the new and old bricks that make up its walls.
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2 years ago
Despite the destruction and rebuilding story, there are many buildings to be seen in Dresden that today, anyway, are beautiful and interesting:
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On the other hand, there are also lots of plain and utilitarian buildings filling in. An ironic example is the one from the Ministry of Culture (or somesuch) (second shot below).
There is of course more to Dresden than buildings, whether old, new, or restored. For example the Lindt chocolate shop!
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2 years ago
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This time we didn't track our walk around the city, or purport to add the distance to our cycling total! But cruising about in the bright sun sure is tiring. We retreated to our room, to listen to the 15th iteration of Con Te Partiro from the violin busker. He is quite good, and we do like the song, so we are cool!
What gave Meaning to Life today? The Frauenkirche as a symbol of reconciliation between formerly warring parties.
Today's ride: 27 km (17 miles)
Total: 4,634 km (2,878 miles)
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