Anyways, my spring break travels initially took me to Paris to see some friends from home. It was a really great weekend, but as I've already posted about Paris before, I don't feel I need to go into much detail. My second phase of spring break travels brought me to. . . Dresden. "Ummm okay, what?" is what you're probably asking yourself. To be honest, I didn't exactly choose the destination; it was chosen for me through a blind booking option, and lo and behold, I got sent to the one city choice I was less than ecstatic about. So initially I was being kind of a bummer about it, but I'm now very happy with how things turned out. First of all, I'm traveling alone over these 4 days, and Dresden is quite a manageable city to be on your own in. Second, how many students studying abroad can say they've been to Dresden? As I've discovered, it's not exactly catered to those kind of tourists.
No, on the contrary to what I initially imagined, I've found Dresden to be a very refreshing experience. The day I spent seeing all the touristy sights was actually quite gloomy, but it didn't necessarily detract from the atmosphere of the city itself. The city is comprised of the Neustadt (New City) and Alstadt (Old City) sides, separated by the Elbe River. The Alstadt side is where one can find all the tourist spots conveniently located in a cluster together. For those that do not know, Dresden was bombed in a 1945 air raid by the Allies, leaving the city itself utterly decimated. This had a lot to do with its plethora of historical and architectural riches, and unfortunately this means many of the buildings one sees today are only replicas of the originals. However, it is amazing to think about the amount of painstaking effort that has gone into giving these buildings the same atmosphere and look as they were originally meant to have. For example, in order to give the Semperoper (Opera House) the same feeling the original architect, Semper, intended, the same materials and ancient methods were used to give the building the same character. Though this meant an extraordinary amount of extra time for labor and higher costs, it exemplifies the lengths at which the city of Dresden has gone to resurrect their charming, Baroque style monuments.
Apart from the sites, I have only encountered one other American, and that includes any Americans I may have simply heard passing me by on the street. English is rarely heard, and as I found out, this is because Dresden is a major tourist attraction for Germans themselves. Even more difficult to come across it seemed, were people who actually spoke english. A majority of times I approached someone by speaking English, they told me politely in German that they did not know any English. After taking a look at a note written on my map, I realized that Germans in the GDR learned Russian, not English growing up. I think it is a common assumption we make that all Germans know English, and though those that do know it speak it quite well, this assumption is simply not true; it depends entirely on the region and age group one is dealing with. Despite this aspect sometimes being a challenge, I really like being in a city where I almost feel special because I'm such an exception. This is completely the opposite in Paris, where Americans can be spotted everywhere, and from a mile away (it's the shoes that do it, I completely swear by that).
Hopefully this post will make up for my lack in descriptive details about my travels. I've really enjoyed my time traveling alone (though at times it does get a bit, well, lonely) and discovering places I never had in mind.
