Old Buildings In Dresden

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin

As I listen to Justin and Stella play hide and seek downstairs and Nora is napping next to me, I figured I’d jot down this post quickly.  We accepted a house on Thursday in this lovely little town, so we finally have a home, but only our suitcases and a couple pieces of loaner furniture. Luckily, we have two small children so it is easy to fill it life and energy, but with less places to clean (other mothers know what I’m talking about). You’ll have to forgive me if this post is written more poorly than others, we do not have internet, I do not speak German to expedite that process, so this is getting written and posted on my phone!

We joined MWR on a trip to Dresden. The buildings in this town are beautiful and we only had time for one museum because we walked around looking at the buildings.  I had planned to do the hop on hop off bus tour, but we will have to go on another trip to do it!  We went to the “Grünes Gewölbe” (The Green Vault) & Residenzschloss and spent about 4 hours there. We probably could have spent more time there if we didn’t have the girls. It is like a treasure chest and houses armor, swords, jewels, and other unique artifacts from history. It was founded by Augustus the Strong in 1723 – so it’s older than the United States! The history here will never cease to amaze me. It suffered some damage in 1945 when the Allies bombed Dresden, but they rebuilt the building with as many of the original pieces as they could fine and use. We were afraid to take pictures (since we couldn’t read everything posted), but I did take one picture. I loved seeing all the jewels and the intricate carvings while Justin enjoyed the swords and armor. Most of the grown men’s armor could have fit me! It amazing how much changes over time.

We walked through the courtyard of the Zwinger, which Stella enjoyed because it was a castle. For those that do not know, the Zwinger is a palace with a large courtyard you can walk through for free. It now houses a few museums and a cafe.   I took so many pictures there is no way I could post them all. The details on the buildings was phenomenal and how some of them have managed to still look so good over time shows how great the craftsmanship was!
Every time we went to eat or had a question, I tried speaking as much as I could in German. I know I speak poorly, but one Polish waitress’s face made sure I knew it. It was quite funny, although a little embarrassing. We ate food, drank coffee and beer, then finished off the trip with some soft serve ice cream, which may have been the best I have ever had! Even Justin (the anti-desserter) said it was really good. 
So it was a quick day trip but worth another trip back I do believe, maybe even for a Christmas market or two.  😍 I’m hoping at the end of the month to convince Justin to go to Italy, but we shall see! 
Until next time and happy Labor Day y’all! 
Links:
Grünes Gewölbe 
https://gruenes-gewoelbe.skd.museum/
Zwinger 
https://www.der-dresdner-zwinger.de/de/startseite/