Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: dresden

I took this on a Eurocity train between Bad Schandau and Dresden, where the speed limit is 160Km/h (100 m.p.h.), not fast by world standards, but fast enough to make things blur. To make things better, there was a beautiful orange-red sunrise directly to our east, so I managed to snap this and get it to blur to abstraction.

The original Frauenkirche was destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden in 1945, and the spectacular Baroque church was still being rebuilt when I visited it in 2005, being reopened shortly after I took this picture. The restoration wasn't begun until the early 1980s, but still it took a long time. Now, the church is standing again for all to see, and its so beautiful it's a little bit surreal. It's just not common to see anything new (kind of) that looks this good.

I've been informed by cats_dd that this is the Hauptbahnhof Nord stop, but more importantly, I took it because I like the way the world underneath the bridge is dark (but not so dark that you can't see shadow details like the bicycles), while the world outside is illuminated by comparison. The yellow paint on the tram and the street sign are nice touches, too.

The current Zwinger Palace was constructed in 1710-1728 by Augustus the Strong, using the foundations of an old armory. It was originally a stable, or "Zwinger," not for horses, but for artillery, hence the name. Although mostly destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in 1945, it was reconstructed after the war and is now a major tourist attraction.

I took this because I liked the carvings on the building, as well as the composition when taken from this perspective.

This is of the same part of the Zwinger as in Picture 2, only I was standing much further back in this one.

This is the largest of the Zwinger buildings, and the least ornate, although still including here, of course. :-)

Because Dresden is in Saxony (sorry for mistakes on earlier posts ;-)), this wall depicts the succession of Saxon sovereigns.

The Residenzschloss is the City Hall for Dresden, and the Hofskirche (Church of the Holy Cross) is right next door (you can only see the rear of it here). The statue is cool, too, but ultimately I took this shot for the overall detail and complexity. It is, in its own way, beautiful.

I saw this onion dome over the entrance to the Zwinger, and I just loved it. Therefore...here's the photo. :-) I haven't seen many onion domes in Germany, although in reality they're not too uncommon on churches.

Dresden used to have a fleet of Tatra T4D-MT trams (and still do, just not exclusively), not unlike the Tatra T3s used in Prague, but in recent years DVB, the Dresden transit authority, have been buying new articulated trams from Bombardier. I haven't ridden any of the new 12-axle TD12DD trams yet, but I have ridden these NGT8DDs, and they're great. They're quiet, smooth, quick, and obviously zero-emissions. In fact, I would venture to say that they should probably be models for future designs, as I've never ridden a better class of tram, although maybe I shouldn't be so enthusiastic without knowing how reliable they are. On the positive side, none of them broke down while I was riding them.

I first rode behind a DB 101 Class electric in 1998, on an Intercity service from Emmerich to Koln. That was a very memorable trip, and since then I've ridden behind a 101 on other occasions as well. They're very fast (for a locomotive as opposed to a trainset) being able to hit 220Km/h with little effort, although officially they only do 200Km/h in service with their 10-12 car Intercities, very powerful (the Class 103 is the only large German electric class to ever beat it), and just...well...good looking. The bright cherry red that DB uses for its Intercity equipment nowadays suits them especially well. Therefore, I figure I should use any excuse to put a picture of a 101 on my website, so here it is. I took this is Dresden Hauptbahnhof in 2005, where I was catching a Eurocity service to Prague. They cut the 101 off in Bad Schandau or Decin, if I'm not mistaken, replacing it with a CD Class 363.

This was a very lucky shot, although not perfect. I had gotten on the train, and was regretting the fact that I didn't have the chance to catch this earlier, when it went by on the mainline when I was in the wrong part of Dresden to get a good angle on it (I only saw and heard the exhaust through the trees). Much to my amazement, my camera was already in my hands, and there it was, moving slowly enough for me to get this shot!!! It's an old DRG Class 50 2-10-0, repainted for DB, as after World War II DB didn't get rid of steam until 1978, and even after that the DR kept it, so today a lot of it has been preserved.