On the Road to Berlin...21st July

From Dresden a straightforward run.. listening to Kraftwerk on the autobahn...  A couple of items that to muse on...

Firstly road protocol in Germany. As mentioned before, there have been many roadworks while in Germany; the consequence of expecting great roads to travel on. But the interesting item was when stopping and crawling through the next set was how everyone moved to the edge of their lanes, allowing a gap for emergency vehicles or police to pass through.

This may be a mandatory requirement for German drivers but I couldn't help thinking what would happen in other European countries.. Having driven in most on this trip, the Scandinavian countries would understand but for most others, this space would be immediately filled with cars trying to find an advantage. In the UK though, we would  purposely drive close to the white line to stop anyone getting an advantage.. understanding Brexit..

To finish on this Brexit theme.. sorry.... a photo taken at a stop before my apartment in Berlin...

Everywhere I have been to since leaving the UK.. they all think we are mad.. including the nationalist and right wing societies of the former eastern block.... They like to complain like 'mad' but are not stupid enough to leave...

Tomorrow Berlin...

Dresden...20th July..

What a wonderful city... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden


Still being re-constructed after the bombing of the city in 1945, which will continue for decades with both historic re-constructions and new architecture being sponsored by state and private investment. 


I decided to explore the Neustadt area of the inner city first, on the opposite side of the Elbe..

On the way, a visit to the Ufa Kristallpalast..designed by Coop Himmelb au in 1996.. a classic deconstructivist building... set of against a very long GDR residential building behind..

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufa-Kristallpalast

To see as much as I could during the day, I hired a bike from the hotel...

The writer reflected.... no lycra.....

Cycling on across the Elbe to the Neustadt, not actually new...

The area is full of tree lined avenues with a mix of government, residential and commercial buildings. While it was a Saturday, it seemed to be a lovely place to live and work. 
An urban contrast to the other bank but both areas are easy to travel to across the three bridges connecting both..

A 'busking' concert was underway in the centre of the Hauptstrasse, the main shopping street in the Neustadt... so stopped to listen with many others. The quality was exceptional.

Then into the older part of the Neustadt; and this part full of art shops and galleries. A few surprises...

Oops; the effect of kriptonite.....

And this golden statute.. so shiny and brilliant it could have been a Jeff Koons substitution... but seemingly real.. 

The Japanisches Palais...a Baroque Palace built in 1715 to display the Japanese pottery collection, it now is the home of three museums. Beyond the building is the Palaisgarten and the river bank..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanisches_Palais

The river bank on the Neustadt side, the inner curve of the Elbe in the city centre feels rural but with a backdrop of the romantic baroque historic city...

This green river bank allows the river to rise when swollen protecting the centre but in recent years the city has been hit by devastating floods particularly in 2002, 2006 and 2013.. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_European_floods

Behind the wall that separates the river channel and the city there are a number of public parks and event spaces, including the garden in front of the Japanisches Palais, free to enter. The garden was the location of a summer season of free concerts. I decided to attend one later in the evening; with my bike. The main event was a piano concert by a Russian pianist. 

In an earlier post when in Beograd, I mentioned how public access to one side of the river bank was being restricted by private development. Both banks in Dresden are for the people and this is celebrated by the free to access events along both banks.

On the opposite side of the river to the side of the city stands a building that looks like a large mosque...

It has what looks like a minaret.. but in fact it was designed and constructed in 1909 as a cigarette factory; the Yenidze. The stylistic references of mosques was chosen due to the fact that the factory manufactured 'Turkish' cigarettes. The minaret is the concealed chimney and the dome was where tobacco leaves were dried. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yenidze

The Dresden architectural society was so appalled it cancelled the architects' membership of their society. The appropriation and application of stylistic references is nothing new (post modernism being the obvious example) but I'm sure that using these particular references would be just as wrong then as they would be now..

Back on the bike across the river to the main historic centre..

Past the Dresden Conference Centre...which I had seen from the opposite bank which I didn't like; it doesn't respond contextually to the river or the surrounding space (see the view across the river below) while the facades looking a little shabby..

A statute of Dostoevsky who lived in Dresden for a short time..

The elevation looks like a modern super yacht with references to WW1 dreadnoughts..

To the historic centre; firstly to cycle round the Semperoper Dresden ...

...and then to the Katholische Hofkirche..Even though it is located in the heart of the city, it wasn't busy.. It felt serene,without gilded adornment, with a central nave and two side chapels with similar lengths to the nave and separated by arched colonnades each side.

External view; form and function to the plan

view across the cathedral

A memorial to the priests that were murdered by the NSDAP 

One of the side chapels

The chapel is now a memorial to those who died during the bombing raids in February 1945

Like all buildings in the centre the cathedral was severely damaged. It was repaired after the war, completed in 1962 and then further refurbished post reunification. 

Onto the Zwinger.. surrounded on two sides by the remnants of the 17C moat, a beautiful place to sit in the heat...

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwinger_(Dresden)

On wards... along the Altstadt bank...

Looking across the Elbe to the Neustadt

The Albertinium; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertinum

Then into the Neumarkt, the central square where the Frauenkirche is situated..
Most of the buildings fronting the Neumarkt are new.. but there is a sublety to the design of the buildings and their colours; all muted but different. Likewise the landscaping has subtle changes in colour and texture. The impression is that real care has been taken to create an environment that has a real richness worthy of the place and setting. This is very rarely seen in the UK.

A statute of Martin Luther in the centre.. Pale poly-chromatic stone sets complement the colour variations to the buildings fronting the Neumarkt.. 

This modern insertion is discrete and respectful of its neighbours on the corner of Kanzleigasschen and Schossergasse.. it also has the best public WC in Dresden.. if your passing.....

Frauenkirche Dresden..

The sheep are grazing within the confines of the now reconstructed Neumarkt..

The re-building of this church is the symbol of the re-construction of Dresden after the war, particularly since the unification of the country. Originally left in ruins, as a memorial to the destruction of the city during the GDR post war period, re-construction started after the unification and was finally completed in 2005: a statement of reconciliation between peoples. One of the stone blocks from the dome has been left in place to the side of the church as a reminder of the destruction.. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_Frauenkirche
The rebuilt interiors are an exact replica of the original.. unlike any church or cathedral I have visited on this journey..

A cacophony of pastel colours,swooping curves and a glazed balcony that I have never seen in any other church. I can appreciate the modern church in Munich or the Baroque cathedral in Dresden but this is not for me..but I am probably in the minority.

A cycle ride back across the Augustusbrucke currently under reconstruction...

to the garden in front of the Japanisches Palais to the free evening concert. A range of pop up food tents and small bars lined the bank.. Firstly sitting on the benches 

and then deciding to sit on the grass listening to... not the advertised event but German folk songs sung by a gifted women singer and her male pianist..

I didn't have a clue what they were singing about, and it made me think of how many German bands that have made it in the UK.. I got to three; Kraftwerk, Nina (Red Balloons and Boney M (they sang in English so probably don't count).. 

There were young families, couples and friends sitting on blankets with picnics or buying food, beer and wine from the pop up restaurants and bars.. so calm and natural. Why England can't organise free events like this that don't degenerate into bottle throwing contests is a real collective failure..
. Now
As the sun set and dark descended on the park, with just enough light to see your neighbour, the Palais was the backdrop on which images were projected; a visual expression of the Max Richter music that was the next concert after the folk duo.. 

This was magical... lying on the grass listening to the haunting music and watching the changing images while being 'caressed' by foreign bodies'..... Hermes Terre D'Hermes isn't much of a deterrent..

In the distance flashes in the sky announced a storm that was not anticipated. Riding back without a working front light I reached the hotel before the heavens opened.. a memorable day.. 

I will love to come back to Dresden...