On Christmas Day, we left Krakow and headed to Dresden, in the Saxony region of Germany. Considering the country is quite secular, we figured there would be a better chance of places being open on the holiday. Besides having to check in by machine at B&B Hotel, we were right. There were plenty of people drinking and dining at Brauhaus Watzke (top left). TJ and I enjoyed hearty meals of meat and potatoes, with lard spread and bread on the side (top right). Much to our surprise, when we headed into more central Neustadt, we found fewer people, including at craft-beer bar Zapfanstalt (bottom left). We even managed to snag stools at Lebowski Bar, a small 20-seater or so, of which the Dude would approve (bottom right).
The first time I ever knew of the existence of Dresden was when I read Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five in high school. When I found that the site was a short ways from our hotel, I requested that we walk the dog there. The complex where the author was imprisoned and beaten during World War II now is home to a convention center, but a cow statue indicates the site's previous incarnation (left). Only a small sign across from the statue explains the events that took place there (right).
Across from the complex is a large park that annually becomes parking for the city's renown Christmas Market. The festival officially shut down on Christmas Eve, but some gluhwein stands were still holding out (top left). The main square near Frauenkirche was full of similar shacks that were shuttered for the season (top right). As a result, the streets were much less crowded, so we could more easily see the sites in Altstadt, which sadly was delisted as a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the construction of a new bridge. Despite their degraded status, we still marveled at the Royal Residence (bottom left) and the Fürstenzug, a mural along the residence's stables that shows the ruling lineage riding as a "procession of princes" (bottom right).
We crossed a footbridge (not the UNESCO deal-breaker), so we could check out Kunsthof Passage in the daylight. The series of sidewalks behind the street-facing facades is a haven for artists, including some who have extended their work to the hidden backs of buildings (top left and right). A restaurant within the passage has its own artistic point of view; Lila Sosse (Lilac Sauce) serves most of its food in preserve jars (bottom left). Among our chosen containers was a deliciously cheesy spaetzle (bottom right).
After lunch, we rode a bus to a suburb above the Elbe River (top left), where we could board the Standseilbahn funicular for a ride down to the river valley (top right). The Blue Wonder Bridge across the river provided an excellent venue to spy Albrechtsburg Palace (middle). But we had our eye on the winter gardens; we stopped at one on each side of the span. We sipped drinks at the Körnergarten as we watched the sun go down (bottom left). As the early-evening chill set in, we warmed ourselves by a bonfire with another steaming mug at the SchillerGarten (bottom right).
After an adventurous train ride to nowhere, we returned to the northern bank of the river for dinner at Brauhaus am Waldenschlösse (top left), a brewery located in what was once a hunting lodge for the royal family (top right). Afterward, we had a nightcap at Bautzner Tor, a cozy, house-like pub designed in a more egalitarian style with the commoner in mind (bottom).
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