Beer, sausages and national monuments, oh my!

My first night in Dresden was spent in New town (Neustadt). It is a small section of downtown Dresden with multiple bars and restaurants to appeal to your more eclectic side. There is also a fair contingent of "alternative" types who are a flashback of the 80s with their leather, wild hair and fairly rough demeanor. We roamed the streets, with me trying to translate German into English fairly well, and found a small bar that only had food and decorations circa GDR time. We sat at a table with vacuum cleaners hanging on the wall and I was unable to order french fries since pomme frites were not available in East Germany. However, I was able to try the only East German hefe-weitzen beer. Saxons (those from East Germany) are particular about their type of beer. I, unfortunately, love hefe-weitzen which is made in the southern german state of Bavaria. This one was made in Saxony and tasted great, but it is still not an east german beer as Frank said. So what is the best beer? Radeberger, of course! :)




The next day was a meeting of the Oldtimers. This is a club for classic or antique cars. The owners meet every month for events around the country and drive in their, sometimes, 50 year old cars. Frank and his father have refurbished cars from the GDR era such as the Trabant, P70 coupe, EMW and they were beautiful and fun to drive in as I did later in the week. We drove to a town fair of sorts and set the cars up in an open grassy area for everyone to admire them and take pictures. You would be surprised at how happy and excited people were to see these cars. It was a representation of the GDR and the innovation that was apparent at that time. We drank some beers, of course, talked with other members of the group and I tried a fried German sausage with mustard--it was awesome! After a bit, it was time to go to the Moritzburg castle. The tour part was closed, but we were able to see the lower floor and the beautiful fascade of the castle itself. It was set in the middle of a lake and was a hunting castle. Imagine heads of animals hung on each wall...not a place for vegetarians!




Time to discover the beautiful city of Dresden which was founded in 1206. The buildings are old and unique, but some have been rebuilt in the past few years. During WWII, Dresden was one of the unfortunate cities hit by a massive bomb attack that left the city in shambles. However, if you are to visit it now you would have no idea of its past. It is a big city with a small town feel. When I was there, the weather was windy and rainy, but there were people dressed up in 1800 costumes who were there to help you find your way around. There was a lot of construction throughout the city, but none as to obstruct the view of the Elbe river, a 700 mile long river that cuts West from East Germany. It is pervasive throughout the city and in good weather people meet along one of its banks to enjoy an outdoor cinema. We saw the Zwinger (a museum), Semperoper (an opera house) and Frauenkirche (literally women's church). The Zwinger was closed because it was Monday which is their only holiday, note to others who would like to go. The Semperoper offered a tour which Frank and I went on. The best part is that it was in German so he translated for me. In the beginning, his translation was consistent and then it started to die off until he stated how boring the woman was and that I would not be interested in what she was saying. There is a relaxation in not knowing the language and just looking around at the beautiful architecture of the interior and having your own private thoughts. With that, I was immune to the boringness of her speech and just enjoyed my surroundings! The best part by far was the Frauenkirche, Church of Our Lady, which was built in 1743 and rebuilt in 2005 after the bombings completely destroyed it. This church was an enormous part of the city skyline and one that you were able to go up to the cuppola for a view of the city. It was breathtaking! We went to another part of the city and met Frank's grandmother. The language barrier did not allow us to have intimate conversation, but I hope I can speak more German in the future because she is a charming woman with many stories to tell. Did you know that they have Spanish tapas in Germany? Yep, they do, although, not what we would think of. I met Frank's friends, Revvie and Daffy (nicknames for Rene and Stephanie) at a restaurant called El Perro Borracho (the drunk dog). We ordered many types of food and got to know each other. They knew English really well and we had a great time.




It was time to go to Berlin. This was a trip of only 200km, but the differences were immense. If Dresden had a small town feel then Berlin had a big city feel. The Berlin wall that separated West from East was only in Berlin so those in other cities of Germany never had to interact with it if they chose not to. Frank did not see it before it fell, but only after when pieces were made into national monuments. At this time, there are miles of the wall left as a memory to what happened and it has been turned into an artistic venture with many paintings on the outside. It was interesting to drive around and wonder which side of the wall we were on. I could not tell any major differences on either side as I thought I might be able to. The area of Potsdam Platz was a major metropolitan square pre-war and it is one again now that the wall is not splitting it in half. There is a section of it in the middle of the square with information about how the wall was built and why it came down. The picture of us in front of it shows how high it was and the impossibility of climbing it. I was not aware that from the West there was just the wall, but from the East there was the wall and the dead zone. The dead zone consisted of the East side of the area just before the wall with multiple barricades, guard towers and soldiers ready to shoot. The Brandeburg Gate was built in the early 1800s and has become a symbol of the strength of Germany. Unfortunately, it was in the dead zone so no one from East or West could see it while the wall was up. We walked through this enormous "gate" which has horses and a chariot on top to represent strength. The Reichstag, or pre-Hitler Bundestag, is the most visited government office in the world. It was partially rebuilt with a massive dome on top. After waiting over an hour we went up the elevator to the top of the building and then into the dome. This clear structure was built with multiple mirrors to harness the sun and bring its light into the auditorium of the Reichstag where the governmental officers hold their meetings. It offered a great view of the city and at the top of the dome we were able to take in some sun as the top is open to the sky. I would bet that it is a great place to be at night. One last place to visit in Berlin was the TV tower located in the eastern part. It is one of those towers such as Tokyo tower or the Sears tower. We went to the top, walked around and had a great beer!




The next day Frank and I went with Revvie and Daffy to the Bastei cliffs. The journey was by train along the countryside of eastern germany following the Elbe river to the Czech Republic. We arrived and had to take a ferry across the river into Saxon Switzerland. There is a national park beyond the town which is an idealistic and now touristy town that feeds into the park. It was such a beautiful day and we walked into the forest and up hundreds of stairs through the dense foliage to the top. We rested at the top and walked to a great view of the hills and rock cliffs where we heard singing from down below. It seems there is a stage where they perform operas. We walked on and saw many great views including stone bridges and that of the Elbe River below. It really was a beautiful walk. We rested at an outdoor cafe for some German potato soup, beer and Russian Brot--sweet hard cookies that are shaped into letters (see picture at this point). We left the village and boarded the Meissen steamboat for a trip back to Dresden. We passed many castles along the way and arrived in Dresden at sunset. It was truly breathtaking with the setting sun casting its rays onto the city skyline. After many pictures, we disembarked and walked to a great restaurant, Ayers Rock, to meet Frank's parents. The food was genuine from Australia and we had a great time. Kangaroo might be my favorite kind of meat even surpassing Buffalo that I tried in Arizona, USA.



We drove to the town of Meissen to see the beautiful Meissen porcelain. This was a unique experience as it is the first porcelain made in Europe. In the 1700s porcelain came from China and many people tried to duplicate it. Once they did it became immensely popular and with it the town excelled. The tour was great because they gave me earphones to translate it to English. The gallery had some beautiful, but expensive, pieces. We walked around the castle and the local town and headed back to the house. The next couple of days were spent meeting family and celebrating Frank's birthday. There were barbeques, family get togethers, a party at one of his friend's houses, and many conversations both in English and in German. Overall, I had a wonderful time and truly enjoyed getting to know such amazing people! :)

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