We drove up to Dresden this weekend to enjoy the Christmas Market and the beautiful baroque buildings. Dresden was referred to as the Florence of the Elbe before WWII. The city was firebombed on February 13th, 1945, where somewhere between 25,00-35,000 people died. Over 75% of the city was left in rubble. The old town is now filled with new or restored buildings and the Neutown, on the other side of the river, has some of the oldest buildings. Dresden ended up on the Soviet side when Germany was divided up. During the cold war it was referred to as the "Valley of the Clueless" because it was one of the only places where you couldn't get Western broadcasts.

Dresdeners call their market the Striezelmarkt and claim to be the oldest, dating back to 1434.  Many traditional Christmas gifts, toys and decorations were invented hundreds of years ago in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), when the supply of ore ran out. The Erzgebirge is located only a few kilometers outside Dresden, near the Czech border. Today most of the Christmas Markets in Germany are still supplied from this region. Dresden also claims to have the world's tallest Christmas pyramid, with a height of 14 meters (45 feet) and the world's biggest nut cracker. The culinary attraction of the market is the Dresden Christstollen, originally known as ‘Striezel’, which is where the market’s name comes from.

On Saturday morning we got to the market before the crowds and the boys enjoyed riding the mini-train while huge snowflakes were falling overhead. Our friends arrived around noon, and we walked across the old town to the Sophienkeller Restaurant. It was located right across from the Zwinger Palace and had a very festive atmosphere. The waiters dressed up in costumes and the entire restaurant is themed to the 18th century. There is even a carousel table that slowly spins around while you eat. The boys got crowns and the men ate pig on a spit.

After lunch we walked to the Frauenkirche, which is the most important building in Dresden today. In fact, it is so important that I am going to dedicate an entire post to it following this one. I don't want this post to be too long and you to lose interest :)

Along the way, we walked past the Parade of Nobles (Furstenzug), which is a mural painted on 24,000 porcelain tiles. The mural depicts 700 years worth of Saxon royalty. It was built to commemorate the Saxon heritage after Saxony joined Germany in 1871. The artist studied the fashion and weaponry of the ages in order to be as accurate as possible in his paintings.

After interrupting a service in the Frauenkirche, we ordered some gluwein and walked back towards the Theatreplatz, which is full of beautiful Baroque buildings. Unfortunately all of these buildings are reconstructions. They were destroyed during WWII during the fire bombings by the American and Brittish military. They have been rebuilding the city for 60 years and are still not finished.   On on side of the square was the Semperoper (Opera House).   On the opposite side is the Catholic Hofkirche. Dresden was a major site of Martin Luther's Protistant Reformation, so only 5% of the people who live there are catholic. This church is a remnant of the of "Augustus the Strong", who was Dresden's prince elector and the King of Poland in the 18th century. He brought in artists from all over Europe to beautify the city. Even though the people of Dresden were Protestant, the polish people were mostly catholic and in order to be king he had to practice Catholicism. After his death, his son wanted to remain the king of Poland, but the pope would only agree if Augustus' son built him a catholic church in Dresden. The people of Dresden refused to build it, so he brought in catholic Italians to do the work instead.

On yet another side of the square sprawls the Zwinger, an impressive Baroque Palace, that is now a complex of museums. The city was home to beautiful art collections and jewels collected by the royal families. The city officials anticipated the WWII bombings and hid their treasures in underground mines and cellars in the country. They survived the war, but when the Soviet's took over, they confiscated the treasures and took them to Moscow until Stalin died. After his death the artwork was returned in an effort to win over the East Germans. Much of the stone on the building is blackened, which led me to believe that maybe this palace was not burned and survived the bombings. Research proved me wrong. Oxidation turns the stone black in only 30 years. City workers are in the process of giving in a silicone treatment to allow the stone to breath without turning black.

After browsing through the Zwinger, we enjoyed some apfel gluwien and wandered around the market. Maddox had fun standing on the stroller and would not let go of Julie's hand.   Apparently he has a new favorite girlfriend. Carson was sleeping for most of our walk, but when he woke up he had it in for us. He cried inconsolably for at least 20 minutes. Despite our best efforts, he would not calm down. Ben graciously offered to bow-out of our gluwien marathon and take the boys up to the hotel room. I stayed out for a few more hours with our friends until the wine and hefewiezen got the better of me. I returned with a brawt in a bun and a dunkle beer to thank Ben for being Mr. Mom tonight.