We were on our bus to Germany. We settled in and I began to watch the European farm side. I’d never really seen snow up close like this, I was mesmerized. There was nothing except for the occasional tree and snow falling softly in patterns all around. There wasn’t much change in the scenery until we got to the border, officers boarded our bus and checked everybody passports. Personally I was shocked by how quickly we got to Germany, it takes an hour and a half to get to my grandma’s house! And after another half hour of driving we arrived at our destination. We spent a good few minutes fumbling around asking people for help before we got our tickets for the public transportation. We got onto our tram and as I sat I noticed how clean everything was. There was no trash anywhere, there was a pleasant smell and there were small children sitting by themselves presumably on their way to school. For those 10 minutes I made some comparisons between our public transportation and Germany’s. 

We arrived at our stop and got out. We were greeted by a bunch of cold wind and silence. For being a popular tourist site we saw almost no one around. We arrived almost 2 hours earlier than our walking tour was scheduled for so we decided to walk around and explore a little. We sat in a little cafe and discussed our plans for the day. We finished our drinks and set out. We stopped by a statue we saw when we first got off. Of course we spent a while in the freezing cold as mom took picture after picture. After poking around for another hour we went to our meeting place and found our guide. We spent 2 hours walking around a small area in Dresden. Our guide showed this huge mural made entirely out of porcelain. We were informed that it was the biggest porcelain mural in all of Europe. Our guide then explained to us how most of Dresden had to be rebuilt after the war and how the mural was left mostly untouched. We then visited Fraudenkirche. Fraudenkirche was the first Luthren church built in Dresden. When the church was first constructed Dresden was largely protestant. To avoid backlash the King had the scandalous statues erected last. The people were so revolted the king had a passageway built from his palace directly into the church. We then went to Dresden Palace. Dresden Palace is one of the most amazing places I have seen. The carved details on every surface captured my attention instantly. Unfortunately when we were there the center square was under construction. There were gold accents everywhere that preened in the sun. We stood at the top of the courtyard looking down and thinking. Inhaling the cold air with the sun at our backs, I felt an immense amount of joy. I then went down some stairs and I found a little area. It was entirely secluded and I was surrounded with intricate statues of women. Behind me was a fountain with no water in it. I was fascinated. All these women had to symbolize something. I thought to myself. Who were they? What lives did they lead? Who was the muse? I wanted to stay and stare at them some more but we had a train and a bus to catch so only 6 hours after we arrived in Germany we were on our way back to Prague.