A Communist mosaic on the Kulturpalast reminds us that this was East Germany

My other reason for visiting Dresden was the art.

We stopped at the Albertinum on our first day in town to immerse ourselves in contemporary art, from the Romantic period to the present.

Is that a Romantic hero from a Caspar David Friedrich painting staring pensively at the Elbe…?

I took the train down to Dresden a couple weeks ago.

It was very clean there, and at first this unnerved me. There wasn’t any litter or graffiti around the main station either, or in the old town. A very un-Berlin sense of order reigns.

“Dear Visitors, You are entering the site of the former concentration camp Plaszów”

“It must be up here somewhere,” I said, struggling through undergrowth that clung to my knees and shins. “The satellite photos showed a path running off to the left…”

Rügen’s chalk cliffs attracted artists and painters…

“Excuse me, do you have a light?”

I looked up to see a naked man towering over me, holding an unlit cigarette. He was smiling politely, but I had to crane my neck at a sharp angle to avoid speaking directly to his genitals. The waves sighed softly in the background as I told him in polite German that I don’t smoke, and he moved along down the beach to ask another bather.