On a sunny Saturday afternoon in July 1967, I was standing on the top of a medieval watchtower on the summit of a mountain near Strasbourg, France. It was very close to the German border. I was visiting a girlfriend I had met earlier that year while she was an exchange student at my high school. She pointed out over the forests in the distance to the east, and said, “That’s Germany. It’s the Black Forest.” I wanted to go to Germany so bad, but there wasn’t any way at the time because I only had the weekend and had to return to Normandy the next day.

Although I was not able to travel much over the years, I always kept that dream in the back of my mind and didn’t give up on it. So 39 Julys later, my dream came true. Even though it was only for a day, I got to visit Dresden, Germany. Another student and I took the train from Prague, travelling along the picturesque Labem River through Decin and Usti in the Czech Republic.

After crossing the border into Germany, we passed through Bad Schandau and arrived at the Hauptbahnhof, or main train station, in the heart of Dresden.

Directly across from the main entrance to the Hauptbahnhof is Prager Strasse, a wide, pedestrians-only street lined with all kinds of shops, cafes and restaurants. Visitors can purchase day passes on the tram system, which provides unlimited transportation to all parts of the city. Prior to World War II, each city in Germany had distinctively colored trams, and the trams in Dresden are reminiscent of those older ones. The Dresden trams are bright green, pink, yellow, green, blue and red; they are color coded to match the tram lines on the city maps for easy identification.

After riding around on the trams just sightseeing and identifying various landmarks like the Rathaus (city hall), several museums, the Dresden Zoo and crossing the Elbe River several times, we spotted an interesting square, so we got off of the tram to investigate. There were several old buildings here that are about all that was left in that part of the city after the firestorm engulfed Dresden during the bombing near the end of World War II. It was eerie to see the old stones of the buildings scorched black by the fire and to see the bullet holes that riddled entire sections of the walls.

The buildings in this square have been preserved as a museum, restaurant and tourist information center. There is a beautiful courtyard with fountains behind the museum that is still in the process of being remodeled. Visitors can go up the wide stone staircases to the promenade along the entire top of the building. From that vantage point, it was possible to see the courtyard and the entire square.

After wandering through residential and small business areas away from the hustle and bustle of the main downtown tourist areas, we stopped at an outdoor cafÇ and sampled the local dishes. My friend tried some German beer. In Germany, there is a very organized recycling and trash collection system, so customers have to pay deposits on every single bottle they purchase; we even had to pay a deposit for the beer glass. It’s easy to get your money back, but my friend decided to keep his beer glass as a souvenir.

After purchasing some pastries and other goodies to take back with us, we returned to the Hauptbahnhof to catch the return train to Dresden. I was in Dresden for maybe a total of eight hours, but it was great to have finally accomplished one of my dreams.

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