Lessons Out East

(Dresden at night)

Admittedly, I was skeptical about heading to Eastern Germany last weekend.  While Justin lived in West Germany as a kid, the Wall was still up creating an uncrossable barrier to the Eastern side. And, in my head, the East still seemed like that dark and unpleasant place today. I was uninterested in visiting, but went along for the ride... While driving into Leipzig and seeing some run down areas, I thought my unfounded notions were spot on. But, I was wrong.

Leipzig proper, the first stop on our trip, was surprisingly clean, friendly and incredibly historic. Composers such as Bach and Mendelssohn came through Leipzig in the 1700 and 1800's making it a classical musical center in Europe which still holds true today. It is home to one of the oldest Universities founded in 1409! Additionally, post WWII, the Nikolai Church was the site of the beginning movements and protests that ultimately toppled the GDR.

We stayed at the Westin and think it was a former Russian bunker, which was humorous. But the hotel was very central. We were pleasantly surprised to find how friendly the people of Leipzig were, even while ordering nachos at midnight (a very rare treat, even if they were a bit off)!

After Leipzig we headed over to Dresden which was spectacular. Dresden, the capitol of Saxony located on the Elbe river, was totally destroyed by controversial fire bombs deployed by the Allies towards the end of WWII. That was so hard to imagine considering most of the city has been rebuilt and restored to it's original and breathtaking facade.  Dresden was incredible and reminded me a lot of Florence- one of my favorite cities!

(Wein Sommer Festival)

The New Dresden Synagogue is one of the only buildings not rebuilt to original spec. The old, gorgeous building, Semper Synagogue, was destroyed in 1938 during the Kristallnacht- the first Nazi Pogrom on a national level. The New Synagogue is very nondescript, but incorporated what was left of the old Synagogue, which I thought was neat.

As we were touring Dresden, we found a local wine festival. We were some of the only tourists there, and it was really nice to see the locals out enjoying a gorgeous night. They were very relaxed and friendly. This is where I was convinced to finally eat a sausage- not going to lie, I half liked it. I found that to be the perfect way to end a trip that completely changed my previous misconceptions.

See all our Eastern Germany pictures here.