Dresden Warnings and Dangers

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I noted that there were a fair number of youth that had bizarre attire, and had that hippie looking effect. The living area around Bischwofsweg has a lot of youth, and high unemployment, which has drawn them into this mode. It is not blatant, but does exist, and be aware to watch out for the negative impacts of this type of culture.
The van parked in a 15 minute zone for two days, and it did not bother them that they may have got tickets; and many of them. They were cleaning out the van for 1/2 day since they live in it on the road, which is always.

Be aware that a lot of places do not take credit cards, or would take them, but really do not want to do so because of the merchant charge. I understand that and we paid most items in cash. We used ATM's to refill the cash needs.

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The area we stayed at on Bischofsweg had a fair amount of graffiti, from the youth looking for something to do, I guess. Either way it is a turnoff for tourists, and they wonder if it is indicative of other things that they need to worry about. This was especially prevalent along Gorlitz Street, which has a lot of younger people living around there.

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There are vehicles, horse drawn carriages, buses, bikes, and whatever else that may claim you as a statistic unless you look both ways when crossing the street. No many streets and cross walks are marked, either, so you need to make sure you have the right of way and no impediment is in your path to attempt crossing the street. This holds true for the area around Zwinger and Semper Opera but also the Altmarket that has trams, buses, and cars going swiftly down the streets. Use the crosswalks.

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I " saw a flash" when going through an intersection. Yes, the light was turning, or maybe turned right after I went past to point of no return. Either way, the flash startled me, and right away thought this must be a camera set up to catch people running red lights. The ticket may still be coming my way since this was a rental vehicle. UGH

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I almost got bumped more than once when trying to get out of the vehicle, or standing too close to the curb. There is not more than 6-9 inches for the trams to pass by along the curb in some areas. It really is scary when it swoozes by you going 20 MPH and at the last minute you hear it.
You really cannot blame the trams, though. These streets are narrow and were okay for the old times when horses traversed them, but when high rise buildings are up close to the streets, there is no room to expand them

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WE drove a vehicle while we were there, and had to wait at some lights, but not way too long. During rush hours to get to work and home, the traffic got congested more. We used Konigsbrucke Strasse a lot, and it gets backed up even though it is two lanes each way, plus the trams using them also. Bautzen Strasse was especially heavy traffic heading east, and it took over 3/4 hour to go about 5 miles in this jam.
The worst, though is the potential for very long back-up of traffic on the highways. Due to work being done, this backs up the traffic for miles; literally. One long one going the other way, thankfully was over 10 miles backed up on Highway #4, and not moving at all. The delay as we passed it was only one lane of road work being performed. Be prepared for a lot of extra time if you use the roads.

I noted that around the area we stayed along Bischofsweg, there were a lot of youth between 18-30 years. I also noted that a fair number of them were, or had been high form some type of drug; mostly marijuana I presume. BElieve me, I know what it looks like.
The Alaunpark in the north sector that we were next to is a haven for that type of thing