Walking through Dresden's new old city

Lots of fun to be had on the town square.

In the midst of the fun, a reminder of 1945.  Fires in the churches melted the organ pipes and other metal objects; the liquid metal puddled and then cooled in the streets.  All of that has been cleared away, but in several locations permanent reminders of what happened have been placed in the pavement.

Dresden's Kulturpalast, where the philharmonic performs.

Beautiful old buildings, except that they aren't old.  They're reproductions of what was there before the bombing.  Not much reconstruction was done between the end of World War II and the fall of Communism.  The Soviet-controlled Communist government wasn't much interested in clearing away the results of the war, and probably had no money for it in any case.  They were also disinclined to rebuild anything that might contribute to a sense of German nationhood, such as palaces of princes and kings.  Most of the rebuilding came after the reunification of Germany.

Pedal-powered taxis -- rickshaws.  The second one has the cheek to call itself a "chauffeured limousine."

The square in front of the museum buildings.

Through the arch into the formal garden of the museum.

The group split up, some to visit one of the museums, others to just wander around.  I went through an unmarked doorway, through an empty room, and out another door into this beautiful walled garden with fountain and pool.

Street level is near the top of the wall.  The heads of the observers blend in with the statuary.

Back into the main garden, and then to a cafe that's part of the museum.  An extremely pleasant way to spend part of an afternoon.

A horse-drawn carriage, and Gabriel looking things up on his laptop as we waited at the tram stop.

Our destination was dinner at a riverside Biergarten.