Dresden, Germany / Prague ... Dec 5, 2008

We decided to spend the weekend in Dresden, Germany and attend the temple in Freiberg (30 minutes outside of Dresden). It is about a 7 hour drive, so not quick, but not too bad. We left Friday morning and since the route took us through Prague, we decided to stop at the Christmas market at the Old Town Square, see the Old Town Hall Tower and the clock's procession of Christ and the twelve apostles that occurs every hour on the hour. One of the best things about living in Europe are the Christmas Markets. While I believe these originated in Germany, they have spread to almost every major (and many minor) European city (and certainly have extended past this continent as well to some extent).
We parked the car and arrived to the square just on the hour, which was perfect, as we had not planned on staying too long, as this was just a quick side trip to pick up an ornament for Ryan.
We watched the clock tower do its thing, ate a quick kürtőskalács (the roasted bread dipped in cinnamon, at least that is the Hungarian name, I think), bought an ornament, and then continued on our way.
We arrived to our apartment in Dresden around 5:00, settled in and then headed for the Dresden Christmas Market in front of the Frauenkirche in Dresden. This Lutheran church survived the Dresden firebombing of World War II (Feb 13-15, 1945 ... Operation Thunderclap), but collapsed the next day. Basically Dresden was completely destroyed during this bombing raid. Originally completed in 1743, the destroyed church remained in ruins in the center of the square for 45 years during the communist rule of East Germany. In the early 90's the reconstruction effort began, and utilising modern technologies, old photographs, old purchase orders depicting paint colors, and much of the original rubble, the church was slowly rebuilt, completing the exterior in 2004 and the interior in 2005.We enjoyed the relatively comfortable weather and strolled the market. We continued walking around the old town and stumbled across the main Christmas market and spent a little bit of time there as well before heading back to our apartment for the night.