Hi guys, it’s me. I’m somehow functioning, but barely. The bubs is cutting teeth like a machine and that means lots and lots of night wakings. Which also means lots and lots of snuggles. 🙂
Rewind a few weeks to when my parents were here and you would find us in Leipzig and Dresden (Germany). Why we waited until our last Christmas in Germany to go to the Dresden Christmas market, I don’t know, but it was spectacular to say the least.
We stayed in Leipzig and took the Deutsche Bahn (the train) to Dresden early the next morning.
Get it? 😉
The Dresden train station was absolutely gorgeous all decked out in its Christmas glitz and glam.
We crossed the street and stumbled upon one of many Christmas markets in Dresden. We got ourselves a piping hot mug of glühwein and meandered through the stands of sweets, trinkets, and all things Christmas.
The Dresdener Striezelmarkt is the most famous of all the markets in Dresden. It’s Germany’s oldest market- all the way back to 1434, making it Germany’s unofficial capital of Christmas.
Every vendor stand was uniquely decorated with its own gorgeous Christmas flair. This romantic and festive market is the most traditional one we’ve been to yet. Many of the Christmas markets in Germany are still being supplied from this region and there was a “little something” for everyone here: Christmas pyramids, smoking figures and candleholders, textiles, pottery, gingerbread, lace, Advent stars, blown glass tree ornaments, you name it, it was here.
A carousel ride for the birthday boy was absolutely in order. He was more fascinated with the ride itself than the world spinning around him.
The glühwein was offered in various flavors, which was something we’d never seen before. I may have tried a few of them…or all of them…and the cherry was my favorite. Well, actually no, first place goes to the wine served out of the big copper pot mixed with rum.
That’s the beauty of taking the train, right? Drink up! 🙂
Dresden was not at all what we expected. Like most Americans touring Germany, we’d never really considered visiting the intriguing fun city aside from seeing the Christmas market. We were shocked to see the fancy Baroque architecture mixed into the cityscape once we escaped the market square.
If you’re unfamiliar with Dresden, it’s located way over on the east side of Germany, near the Czech border. The city was an unfortunate victim of the war, American and British pilots firebombed the city in 1945 leaving more than 25,000 people dead and 75% of the historical center destroyed. We found many circa-1946 photos displayed. Still, we were in awe at how the city has since returned to its once stunning glory so well. It’s very evident that once the wall fell, Dresden wasted no time getting back on its feet, virtually rebuilding from scratch.
The tiles, originally from 1907, survived the bombing. Why? Well, when they were created, they were fired three times at 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit…and then fired again during the 1945 firestorm but only at 1,800 degrees. Pretty neat, ja?
I randomly glanced at my watch only to see that it was 2:20 pm. And it was December 3rd. It was officially Owen’s birthday, so we took a picture to commemorate keeping him happy and healthy for a whole year.
Birthdays take on a whole different meaning once you’ve birthed a human…you go, mamas!
Alright, back to our Dresden tour…the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) is this massive round building fit together like a jigzaw puzzle. It was destroyed in the war and reconstructed in 1992.
See the dark bricks? Each one was carefully placed in their original spot in the reconstruction. Behind the church, believe it or not, was another Christmas market. We passed through it to get to the Elbe river to see what we could see (not much).