Dresden, Germany
Dresden was a city under construction when I was there (and may still
be for a while). Not quite four years after the wall fell, money
was pouring in faster than anyone could imagine (prompting one postcard
I saw that said "Germoney"). Dresden was once a grand city called
the Venice of the Elba that was firebombed and totally destroyed in WWII
by the Allies. Some 35,000 people were killed in the firestorm, though
it wasn't of much military value. It has laid in ruins since then-
of course houses and cheap buildings were rebuilt, but the splendor was
never restored by the Communist regime. Times are changing, and they
are even rebuilding the main cathedral, left in a complete pile of rubble
since the war ended.
©1993, Jeffrey L. Cooper
