Only six days to go until the US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle visit my hometown, Dresden (Germany). Excitement is mounting, since it’s not everyday that one get’s to see a statesman of that order. (And one for whom one was rooting during the campaign – at least after Hillary gave up.)

The most intriguing question for me and my colleagues is though: will be able to come to work? Published today, the map below shows that the inner city of Dresden has been divided into multiple secure zones (click on map for larger image).

The red zone is drawn around the hotel ‘Taschenbergpalais’ where the president and his wife will spend the night. The green zone includes our most famous historical sites: the Zwinger, the Semperoper, the Fuerstenzug and of course the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady).

Now, our office building is located in the grey zone, but it borders on the red zone – when I look out of our cafeteria window, it’s not even half the length of a football field to the hotel. And our entrances are unfortunately not in the white zone, but in the grey zone … talk about bad luck. What was the architect thinking?

I would love to come in on Friday, since we have a spectacular view of the Zwinger and if the president actually decides to take a stroll there, we would have prime seats, so to speak. But I can see the security concern of having a building full of people with unrestricted view towards the site, despite the fact that no one without proper security cards can enter here anyway.

Right now, I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will be able to come in to work next Friday. Otherwise one would have to mingle with the surely thousands of people that will come to see the president … not that I wouldn’t, should he for example chose to address the people, maybe with the Frauenkirche as a backdrop.

In any event, I hope the visit will be memorable and enjoyable for the presidential couple and hopefully completely eventless for the security personnel. (And if I could get just one chance to take a picture of the president …  )

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