Dresden: Day 1

Today we traveled to Dresden. After getting off the train, we met up with Frau Legall's aunt, who will be our personal tour guide for our stay here. She does not understand English very well, but so far she has been very welcoming of us all. After unpacking in our rooms, we left our hostel to go to our first destination: Frauenkirche. It began as the center of the Lutheran Reformation. There it practiced a policy of acceptance of all people who wanted to be a part of it. It was sadly destroyed in a city wide fire on February 15, 1945 caused when allied boomers dropped over 900 bombs (some of which were incendiary) on Dresden. It was rebuilt some 50 years later when the Wall fell by private donations. We would soon discover that this was not an easy build as many pieces used were from the original church when we stayed for a service.  The Jesus sculpture on the alter was broken into over 70 different pieces.   Before we went, we made our way down to the river area. Due to large rains in Germany and the Czech Republic, many areas near the river were severely flooded (the normal depth is 2-2.5 m, now it is 8.6 m). Regardless of this minor setback, we were able to see many beautiful sites around the town. Eventually our sightseeing led us to the Zwinger, a fairly large and magnificent complex with an expansive courtyard. It was there that we decided that it was a very good place for today's group picture. Soon after we capped off our evening with a wonderful dinner in some of Dresden's restaurants.