Hot Air Balloons Over Dresden

Monday, Aug. 11, 2014--Dresden, Germany

We bought a 1-day pass for buses and trams today and headed out to explore parts of Dresden beyond the center.  There are some surprisingly interesting neighborhoods.

We started in Hellerau, a small village on the north side which a friend in Copenhagen suggested we explore.  It is separated from Dresden proper, since you travel through a wooded area before arriving in the small town.  We walked the streets looking at the homes and buildings.  Two of the oldest houses were in a simple style that is very similar to the oldest German houses in San Antonio and Castroville with a roofline for the front sides of the houses forming a sharp inverted "V" and the  roofline for the backs of the houses continuing at a less severe angle.  An interesting aspect of visiting there is that we were noticed.  One man came out to question us.  And as we walked back to the tram stop, we noticed men standing outside in at least 4-5 yards.  They most have a very active Neighborhood Watch program there!  The sad story about our visit there involves a dog.  We noticed it passing us as we were in a churchyard.  As we left and wandered around the town, it continued to either follow us or show up near us.  It was a beautiful, clean, fluffy collie.  I hope it found its way home or that the owner found it.

Using our all day pass and a list of other areas suggested by my guidebook as parts of Dresden today that used to be small villages outside of town and still have that "village" feel in their business districts, we continued to each of the following:

Loschwitz--This is a fantastic community on the north side of the Elbe River with mansion-like homes built up the hillside. 

Blasewitz--This is a "twin" to Loschwitz just south of the Elbe River.  It also has many mansions and a large business district in beautiful buildings from the 1800s and early 1900s.

Kleinzschachwitz--This is a town to the far northeast of Dresden on the Elbe River.  It really only has a ferry landing with a few small businesses near it.  But the river here is lined with mansions, castles, churches, etc.  It is like being far out in the country, but it is on the city tram line.  Many people were there bicycling along the river and exploring the nice old buildings.

Strehlen--This was the least interesting of the places we explored.  It's a nice area, but just cannot compare with the remoteness and/or the grandeur of the other places.

Seeing these places made me feel much better about Dresden.  It is only the center of the city that was destroyed and only partially rebuilt.  Of course, that was the jewel in terms of the city as a whole, but when you get beyond the center it is possible to find large neighborhoods of wonderful homes and commercial buildings that never were destroyed and continue to provide a great feeling to visitors to find them.

Back in our room this evening, we drank a bottle of wine while watching hot air balloons take off from a location to our right and fly over the center of Dresden heading leftward.  There were a total of 7 balloons that took off--all in bright colors.  We have been fortunate to have a top floor room with views of the towers of the old town, so we watched the balloons gracefully floating along for about 30 minutes.  It was a nice ending to our brief stay here.