June 2nd-5th we were in Dresden for Protestant Church Days. It was a first for me and a regular event for Ben and his parents. My father-in-law said this was his 11th Church Days. They are only held every other year so the hype and excitement was really in the air. I had heard so much about this event, but never participated. It was really well organized as over 100,000 people invaded Dresden for the weekend. Every day there were speakers on all topics, music concerts indoors and out, discussion forums, and activities for all ages. There were a few lectures in English they I attended, but mostly I enjoyed the music. Every street corner had a band or choir group playing and with our main ticket we could go anywhere and do everything. No restrictions!
Dresden is in the far east central part of Germany and was a new area for me. It is south of Berlin and only 60 km from the Czech Republic. The city sits on the beautiful Elbe River and is really a neat city with lots of historical buildings. I found it to be a bit of a hidden gem. We crossed an old checkpoint on the interstate that separated east from west during our 4.5 hour drive across the country. It is still different in eastern Germany in my opinion. They are still rebuilding after 66 years. In fact they just finished rebuilding the Frauenkirche in downtown Dresden. The dark stones are from the original church that burned down after the entire downtown started on fire from all the bombing. Usually churches were never bombed during war, but the heat was so extreme that the church crumbled.
A very unique cultural experience for me and a big decision to make about attending 2013 Church Days in Hamburg.
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