Travels: Dresden

Experience

Dresden is one of those few cities that I have traveled to where its architecture bordered on holy. It made me pace my walk, moving in damn near silence as I drank it all in and took photos from every angle. Of course, it helped that it was 7AM on a random Tuesday in October so the stampede of tourists were still sleeping in. Small mercies.

Walking around Dresden a handful of times has led me to confidently say that the center of the city is easily walkable. And yes, I meant to focus specifically on the center of the city. Unlike my home country of America where cities tend to sprawl like a cat catching every possible inch of a patch of sunlight, German cities outside of the capital are really quite compact. It takes, at a moderate pace, maybe two hours to see everything it has to offer.

To be fair, I’m also highlighting the way it is laid out. Typically, cities offer their most interesting, unique parts staggered in its center. Turn a corner, landmark. Pass through an alleyway, the most instagrammable view. Behold, a Starbucks. But it gets overwhelming, almost saturating you, bombarding the senses until you’re standing in the middle of the sidewalk unaware of the people trying to move around you.

Dresden, however, is laid out economically. You’re not suffocating from one spot to the next or even through the more busy parts. Which is saying something if you happen to be swept up into the Kreuzkirche’s aura where it always seems to have a person or twenty milling around. The city has places where you can actually pause to take a breath. Brühls Terrace, seemingly plucked and placed out of a C.S. Lewis novel, gives you a moment to see the Sächsische Staatskanzlei over the empty expanse of the Elbe river. It almost acts as a palette cleanser to the sights and sounds, offering you a relief. As long as you don't immediately look down into the street below, anyway.

And even as you take in that peace, the busy hum continues all around, from that aforementioned yellow bus traffic to hot air balloons preparing for voyage on the river banks.

My moment of peace capturing the golden hour lighting hitting the river just perfectly was interrupted by another photography enthusiast. I was taking a long exposure on my tripod and had had it set up for at least three minutes when a man walked up, looked at my camera, stepped into the shot, and was bathed in the light. The final image came out as a blurry ghost because at that very second the camera finished its long exposure. I packed up my gear, took a quick snapshot, and kept moving, forever haunted by a shot that never was.

You could also turn around from your potential failure and see the wonderful Brühlschen garden. It reminded me of a similarly arranged garden in Munich but this one was surrounding a fountain instead of more architecture. So the effect was more tranquil here than somber there.

The stairs to reach these overlooks, although an electric scooter was laid at the bottom of many, left an impression, the outwardly curved architecture of the Gottfried Semper Denkmal reminding me of the grandness of Sanssoucci palace in Potsdam. Which I mean to say, those were some damn good looking castles.

I’ll give it to German architects back in the day, if they wanted to make something beautiful they for sure were going to do it.

For this trip, I had packed only one pair of shoes that trended closer to sportier than my normal “Dad” walking shoes so I found myself more often than not spending a lot of time resting in my hotel.

Accomodations

You have the dealer’s choice of places to sleep in Dresden. I wound up at the INNSIDE Dresden hotel (and no, that wasn’t a caps lock mistake) which gave me a minute and a half’s worth of a walk to three different amazing locations. But my room’s view wasn't anything more than the construction of another building in a very otherwise quiet alley. Being a native of Washington, DC turned Berliner, I was used to the sight but it didn't diminish the experience.

In fact, the hotel amenities were more than enough to make up for the view. Instead of typical door knobs, I was more than happy to casually swipe a hand across the sliding doors giving access to everything. The bathroom was more than accommodating with a deep sink and multiple options for soaps (this is a big thing when you travel a lot). The countertops were not those flimsy ones you’re all used to with the paneled hollowness that may or may not support a blowdryer. The shower was also enough to accept my 5’11 stature.

The space was decorated with modern furniture that didn't feel too kitschy but also wasn’t like your normal hotel chairs or an avant garde style. Most, these days, try for backsplashes or one touch lights that don't do anything to distract you from a truly awful mattress and questionable pillows whose insides could be stuffed full of anything. But at the INNSIDE, I felt comfortable. Welcome. It helped that I had a continuously stocked fridge. And when I mean continuously, I meant that I actually ran into a very polite but determined housekeeper who refilled my sparkling grape juice for me.

Worth the Visit?

It was a twenty minute walk to the train station from the hotel and I didn’t bother taking the streetcars or buses that would’ve transported me right in front. Mostly because, well, I was in no hurry to get there. When you’ve seen one bahnhof, you've seen them all, at least from the inside. And I’ve spent more hours in the Dresden train station than I have riding the trains but from the outside, it is a sight to see.

It is easily one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture I’ve seen in my travels in Germany. And if I hadn’t been so completely frustrated with my train delay I would have taken a few pictures.

A branch had fallen on the tracks somewhere ahead of my route and I had missed the train that probably would have sped right past it by twenty minutes. Instead, I and my fellow man endured a seven hour wait where we initiated an adult sized version of musical chairs. I waited seven hours after having a full day of socializing, photography, and travel which was enough to send me into a 25% brain power state. I somehow thought the next outbound train was my train. But instead, I rode a strange car to Prague full of international students from America on their First Big Trip for an additional four hours. Upon entry to a brand new country, I simply did my best to sleep off my stupidity after midnight after finding the nearest hotel. I don’t even remember where I stayed. It's entirely possible I hallucinated a clean bed and was instead comforted by the local pigeons.

That being said, I didn't give Dresden its proper due since I was traveling on semi-related business so there wasn’t much time for food (other than the hotel breakfast, which was nice). And since food is more than half of the atmosphere of a city I will return to make good on the full Dresden experience.

All in all, from Berlin or Leipzig, it's a short trip. From anywhere else, it's kind of a tough ride. And if you’re coming from out of the country, even tougher. But I’d say that Dresden’s center and its immediate surroundings have enough charm to hold you over. If you're in the neighboring cities, make a day out of it. Farther than that, a weekend to pop in (maybe until after lunch time) and then hop right to the border of Germany and the Czech Republic (which the route takes you right alongside a scenic river you won’t stop taking pictures of). Maybe even head out of the country while you're at it? Make a day of it and then swing on to the next. But a pop into Dresden first is worth it.