A Summery Evening in Dresden

Where: Dresden, Germany
Why: Part of my Europe trip
When: July, 2010
Major things I did: Walking around, observation, photography.

I had a great opportunity to visit parts of Europe earlier this summer. No, it was not a conference or a presentation, it was a self-sponsored luxury I allowed myself on my way back to the U.S.

Frauenkirche, the rebuilt church

I have always wanted to visit Europe, and I realized that there would never be an opportunity unless I grabbed this one on my way back from India. Of course I have to thank my friends there who helped me with most of the planning, formalities, hosting, and taking me around.

Streets of Dresden

Europe, as you might have heard for the zillionth time now, is rich in history. Castles, museums, palaces, streets, shops, everything has a lot of history behind it. Just like U.S. looks very different from India, Europe looks very distinctly different from both U.S., and India. Food and language were definitely issues for me in some parts of the trip; language because not everyone speaks fluent English, and food because I am not much of a meat-experimenter. If I ate beef, pork, ever horse, I should have been fine there. But I am not complaining, the beauty of Europe compensated for all the good food I missed out on.

By the river Elbe

I started with visiting Dresden. A particular thing that bugs me as I go through the Europe pictures is the realization about how bad I am with names. I don’t remember the names of any of the streets I walked in, castles I visited, or museums I saw. What a shame, considering how rich Europe is in its culture. I tried to look for the names using a search engine, but I don’t think I have the names of every place I visited. My remnant memories of Dresden sum up to a very beautiful city in eastern Germany with a lot of trams, research institutes (including the famous Max Plank institute), walk by the river Elbe, and a lot of palaces, fountains, and street music.

Sunset by the river Elbe

Of course, I did some reading before I visited Dresden. Seems this city has a major historical association with the World War II, a period when the city was totally aerial bombed and destroyed. Of course, they have tried restoring the city back to what it looked before. Someone even told me that the person who headed the restoration work was the son of the man who was majorly involved with the bombing of the city. I do not know if that is true, but if it is, that is something very commendable and impressive to do.

Reflection

The pictures here are mostly from the old city area (Altstandt). A few pictures are from the Zwinger palace, from some churches by the river Elbe, and from the rebuilt church Frauenkirche. You have to forgive me for not remembering the names of every place I went to and every road I took, like I said, I am just not a name person. However, it was a lovely experience just walking around the city, watching people, taking random pictures, and going up to something and reading about it. In these pictures, I have also experimented with a little bit of reflection photography. It was an exceptionally beautiful evening (or maybe all summer evening are), and the dimming light and the clear water gave me a chance to click some reflection pictures.

Some church by the river in the old town

Beautiful buildings

Old Dresden

Zwinger Palace

Old Dresden

Streets of Dresden

Reflection photography inside Zwinger Palace

Inside Zwinger Palace

Inside Zwinger Palace