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Monday, July 26, 2021

Dresden - Germany - We Visited A German Military Museum

The military museum had a big tumor 
attached to it by the architect
The restored interior of the
Our Lady church that 
was a pile of war rubble for 40 years


On Saturday evening we spent a lovely evening - we had supper on the town square in Krakow. We took a late evening ride in a horse and carriage. Krakow is a beautiful and romantic city. I went to bed with the thrill that today I would be visiting a very extensive German Military Museum. 

It took about 6 hours to drive from Krakow to Dresden. Autostrada A4 is a wide open highway. Simply - speed in the right lane is about 75 MPH - and the left lane averages around 90 to 100. Trucks are limited to about 55 mph. This leaves drivers like me bouncing back and forth between the two lanes the right lane is too slow and you get stuck behind trucks. The left lane is too fast - and if you hang out there too long - you get harassed by the folks in unlimited mind thought. We have been in Europe almost 30 days now - and we had our first day with some steady rain. 

We crossed the Poland/German line about an hour before we reached Dresden. Again - there was no stopping at the border - no checking passports - no checking covid vaccine records. Lulu has booked us two nights in The Moxy Hotel - A Marriot chain. It is modern and avant garde. It has a wonderful bathroom - good wifi - but no breakfast this time. 

My main goal in this town was the military museum. 

In 1945 - Dresden was fire bombed by the United Kingdom and the USA. Instead of just picking out military target - they carpet bombed civilian areas. The incendiary bombs - exploded the buildings and then caused everything to burn. It created its own weather - like the forest fires in the western USA. 25,000 people were killed - mostly civilians. 

Dresden is the capital of the State of Saxony in Germany. In 1870 - Germany defeated France in a war - and demanded a lot of money from them. Kaiser Wilhelm was the German leader. With that money - he build a giant military complex just north of Dresden - along the Elbe River. In this complex - he build an armory that eventually housed a large military museum. In WWII it escaped the damage. After WWII - East Germany put a museum there. Finally after the rejoining of East and West Germany - Germany build a museum there - that was supposed not glorifying war. 

We spent 3 hours in the museum. I was disappointed with the whole premise. It was done poorly - it was dark inside - the signage was terrible - the cabinets were not lit - you could hardly read the English labels. We have been to other German museums - an example is the Hesse State Museum in Darmstadt. It may have been the best museum I have been in. This Dresden Museum was not good by any standard. It is a shame because they started with a beautiful old arsenal. It was 5 euros.

Lulu was very tolerant. The best feature was - there were very very few other visitors there. We were alone with our thoughts. 

After that - we went downtown. Dresden is a pretty city. The main city along the river was leveled in WWII. After the war - Russian was in charge here - there were buildings including the main church on the square that were left in a pile of rubble. After 40 years of looking at the rubble pile church - when Germany united again - they rebuilt the city - making the buildings look exactly the same - but better. We marveled at this city and that lovely church. They also have a wonderful downtown shopping area - including several big department stores. It is major league shopping - and Lulu made up for the 3 hours in the museum with 3 hours of shopping. 

We are back at the hotel. Lulu is now planning the last 2 nights of this trip. She is getting a fancy hotel in Karlovy - a town in Czechia famous for its hot spas. After that we will catch our plane back to Paris on July 29. She just sent me the hotel name - see it here - https://olympic-palace.cz/en.

Our horse and buggy's through 
Krakow on Saturday night

The very first shopping mall from the 
1500s. 

Lulu at the first mall ever - 
Krakow.

A new favorite - 4 feet 
of snack

A new Ford camper

I think it was a rental



The Eagle with a broken Swastika

Museum name

Protective armor

Bomb shelters

weapons

This bullet was 800 mm round

This was an old Audi






A lot of things had no
English labels

East German medals

East Germany was communist

A section of the Iron Curtain

Concrete and steel

Guess the brand of this ambulance - 
Commie


Up on roof - view of city

Elbe River flows thru city

Library of German books

Model of The Bismarck


This reminds me of a joke I used
to tell - "the new French (insert any country)
army uniforms - kilts and sneakers - 
so they can crap and run 
at the same time

Nazi piano - made in Dresden

Model of Stuka plane for kids

The Red Baron - a Fokker tri-wing

Kids riding toys

Search lights and radar

The most amazing Nazi weapon.
A V-2 rocket. 
In 1942 - they sent one into space -
the very first human thing in space - 
way before Sputnik in 1957. 
It held 2000 pounds of TNT.
Werner von Braun was the 
designer.








PT Boat






Building cut in two by architect.
Maybe East and West Germany. 

Buildings restored in Dresden

Downtown Dresden

More downtown Dresden

Parade of Saxony royalty


Konrad Gross

Our Lady laid in rubble for 40 years
that is Martin Luther -
the founder of the Protestant Church.

Audi V10 - made in Dresden


Lulu with Julius Otto - 
the librarian



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