Dresden

This statue survived the fire
Cityscape by the river

They used the old burned stone to rebuild the church


Small Christmas market View of 1/2 of the large Christmas Market

We arrived in Stuttgart at 9:30am Dec 21st. Then it was up at 1:30 for Ingrid and me to catch the USO bus to Dresden for the Christmas Market there.
Luckily the bus wasn't full so Ingrid and I each got our own row of seats! We had a couple of stops on the way for breakfast and bathroom breaks. I had my first experience paying to use the toilet and ordering breakfast from a complete German menu. The food is definitely different. Breakfst consisted of lots of different types of cold cut meats and breads. I had a long pretzel roll and meat that I wrapped the meat around the roll to eat it. It was alos a learning experience counting euro. If you give someone a 20 for a 7 euro meal you get a five back and lots of change. I was confused for a while but learned that 2 euro comes in coins. They have a lot of different coins there!
When we arrived in Dresden it was VERY cold! We took a walking tour through the town. The buildings are palatial and gorgeous. So old and so much history it is amazing! Dresden was bombed and mostly demolished in WWII. Many of the buildings were restored to their original grander after the war. They even used a lot of the pieces of the old buildings they found to rebuild. In the pictures, all of the black on the buildings were stones replaced or columns or sections of buildings burned and still standing and used to rebuild after the war.
After the tour we had 6 hours to shop and wander through the market. On a different day we would of appreciated the free time, but it was soooo cold we could barely stand it!
Ingrid and I bought tights at the Christmas Market because our legs were freezing and numb! We walked around the market for a while and tried some different foods. I got diced potatoes. They served it in a basket with a wooden fork. We tried a strange pizza. It was pretty good. We also tried grog to warm up. It is a warm eggnog with alcohol in it. It was soooo bad Ingrid and I choked on it for a while. The alcohol was so strong in it my stomach and esophagus burned for a good hour. Just from one sip! I was bummed I thought I would enjoy it!
Then it was off to the mall to look around and get out of the cold. We still had 3 hours to burn so we spent it between 2 cafes. I love the relaxed atmosphere there. You are expected to relax and take your time in the cafes. You don't get any nasty looks from the wait staff if you are at your table drinking coffee for more than an hour. You also have to ask for your check. They don't give it to you because they don't want you to feel rushed.
We got on the bus at 6 and headed home. We arrived home at 1:30 am and were glad to hear Hayden got some much needed sleep and the guys took a little tour of Stuttgart while we were gone. I am so glad Ingrid and I got to go to this by ourselves. It was nice to hang out, just the 2 of us!