Dresden

We visited Dresden, Germany on our way home this year. It is one of our all-time favorite cities. We also visited a colleague we worked with in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A friend from our German exchange program days also came down and visited us. This is a picture of the "Blaues Wunder" (Blue Wonder) bridge built in 1893. It connected the two most expensive residential districts in all of Europe and was considered a technological wonder of the day.


We had our "3-B" supper under the bridge: Bier, Bratwurst und Brot. The river boat is part of the tourist fleet on the Elbe River.


This is the Hotel Artushof where we stayed in Dresden. It is part of the city that survived the WW II bombing. Very quiet neighborhood!


This is the "Fuerstenzug", the most famous alley in Europe! It is all made of Meissen tiles and shows the history of the Electors of Saxony. This is, indeed, an alleyway and is always swarming with tourists.


Here we are next to the river. The weather was unbelievably pleasant after the heat and humidity of Karachi!


This is the Frauenkirche, better known as "die Glocke" (the bell). It was destroyed in the war, but the Germans used GPS to mark every individual stone at the site and rebuilt the entire thing to the original specifications. The random dark spots are where they used the original, fire- and age-blackened sandstone blocks. The lighter stone is new.


This is a Czech band playing in Germany doing Dixieland jazz. Dresden has a large, annual Dixieland festival! These guys were good, but it just didn't sound like New Orleans!


Here is a scene from a downtown beerfest. Notice the church in the background?