Where To Wander Next

My hair is trailing behind me as I fly down the Elbe River behind my son on an e-bike in search of the world’s most beautiful cheese store. Just a few minutes before, Ethan and I had been standing in the Dresden tourist office while a helpful clerk explained how to get there. “So, go here, cross here, up here, Ya. There,” explained Mary in perfect English. And off we went!

The Elbe river is where it’s at on a Sunday afternoon. We bike past parents pushing strollers, kids kicking soccer balls, couples holding hands, children playing tag. It’s a glorious spring day to wander about in Dresden, Germany. Even on the bike path, the Germans are civil and obedient. Walkers move to the side, bikers make a single file to pass, everything runs like clockwork just like the rest of Germany. 

The famous cheese store, Dresden Molkerei Gebrüder Pfund, doesn’t disappoint but it’s full of people so we just peek our heads in and marvel at the beautiful tiles that cover every inch of the walls and ceiling. Back on the trail, we pass the massive outdoor space below the Palatial Ministry of Finance. This is where huge summer time crowds come to enjoy free concerts which can be heard all the way across the river. There are many musical concerts and festivals throughout the year in Dresden. In fact, the weekend we are there, we stumble upon a Dixie Jazz festival held in the square where the town has their annual Christmas Market. 

As we biked along, Dresden slowly recedes as small vineyards and biergartens appear,  beckoning us to stop and sip the afternoon away. Here along the riverbanks, intriguing gated passageways mark the cafes entrance below while colorful umbrellas-covered decks sit high on terraces above the river.

Once part of the Holy Roman Empire and later East Germany under the Soviet Union, Dresden has endured invasions, bombings, uprisings, fires, and floods throughout its long history. Yet somehow, the city has continually reinvented itself and today’s version just might be the best. Baroque buildings from its royal Saxon era blend seamlessly with ancient castles and grand cathedrals, all set along beautiful cobblestone streets lined with colorful modern restaurants and shops that surprise us at every turn.

The next morning, we meet up with Sylvia, a local guide and friend of Wolfgang Gärtner, the head of International Marketing for Saxony Tourism, whom I met on a work trip in Portugal. Sylvia shows us the famous Zwinger courtyard and the Fürstenzug, a massive tile mural depicting past rulers all the while regaling us with hilarious stories of Augustus the Strong, an infamous philanderer. It’s hard to reconcile the dark and dreary past while enjoying picture perfect scenes out of a fairytale. 

Augustus the Strong was determined to make Dresden a cultural capital, so he invested heavily in the arts and innovation. Because of this, Dresden has always been home to musicians, fine artists, architects, and inventors (porcelain, chocolate, the bra!) which has instilled a huge sense of pride for the citizenry. Over the years, as disaster after disaster befell the town, it was always the citizens, not the government, who rallied and funded its rebirth. 

Its museums are world class and would take a week to see them all. We go after hours to the Grünes Gewölbe, one of Europe’s largest and most magnificent collections of Renaissance and Baroque treasures. I marvel at tiny ornate miniature cities, horns made of seashells, owls made from ivory each more intricate than the next. 

We also visit the Royal Palace’s and stand with our mouths open looking at a huge hall of full size armor for horses and knights.  Massive, ornate jousting lances decorate the walls, and it’s hard to picture carrying one much less balancing one while on the back of a horse. 

My son, Ethan, is a Johann Sebastian Bach aficionado so the next day we decide to go to Leipzig. As we walk to the Dresden train station from our hotel via a pedestrian walkway, we realized that it is the same one that goes all the way down to the center of Old town. “No cars, Mom,” says my son, shaking his head. “How cool is that.”

Leipzig is every bit as enchanting as Dresden, and small enough to explore in a morning. We head to the charming museum inside Zum Arabischen Coffee Baum, which tells the story of how coffee culture arrived in Europe.

Next was St. Thomas Church, where Bach served as the church’s paid cantor and music director. We zigzag through the famous glass-covered arcades where, during the Soviet Union, illegal trading was done. Now they are filled with gorgeous shops and cafes to sit and enjoy the afternoon away.

Our last stop is just a short tram outside the city to Völkerschlachtdenkma, the Monument to the Battle of the Nations. It causes us to ooh and ahh. Its such a strange sight, this massive structure rising from the ground 100 meters into the air  like an Egyptian or Incan Pyramid, while its image is cast in the long reflecting pool out front.

On our last night in Dresden, we attended an opera at the famed Semperoper Dresden. The Opera,Carmen, is a dark story set in Spain and watching the story’s torrid events unfold in this magnificent building symbolizes the juxtaposition of Dresden’s turbulent past with a beautifully restored present. It is truly something to behold.

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