Blogs from Dresden, Saxony, Germany, Europe - page 18

we arrive in dresden quite late and check into the Lollis Homestay Hostel, which i will tell you about in a moment. its cool, worth hearing about and thats why im going to tell you about it. its small and has pictures from the film Hostel knocking around the place. for those unaware (americans probably) Hostel is a backpacker-goes-to-europe-then-gets-butchered-by-twisted-rich-people type film. you know how it is. anyway we find this funny, obviously as we're staying in a hostel. aside from the owners of this place fucking with your head with all these posters each room has a theme. our room is the religion room. there are four different religions all thrown together to make one theme. there is a severed human finger in a box on the wall. neither of us know this religion. this we ... read more

Hi everyone. I made a brief 3-day stop in Dresden, Germany on my way to the Czech Republic and visited Susann Berthold, who some of you will remember from the U of C. She was a great host and tour guide and took a few days off of work to show me around the city and surrounding area. The city was levelled during WWII and is being restored again after major flood damage from a couple of years ago. Aside from the cathedrals and palaces, an interesting site that we toured was an old underground fortress in the city centre. One day we took the train out of town and toured an old fortress on the top of a sandstone mountain, and also did a hike that gave some fantastic views. Note to the peanut gallery: ... read more

I love Dresden! There is so much history here, and I learned so many new things! Plus, I made wonderful new friends! We stayed with Herr and Frau Schröer, who have lived in Dresden all their lives. They love their city and they were so excited to show us all the sights and answer all of our questions. Before it was part of Germany, Dresden was the capital of the kingdom of Saxony. It had its own dukes and "electors", which were sort of like kings. The most famous is Augustus the Strong. Dresdeners are very proud of him and his statues are all over. Europeans in those days (1694-1733) loved the very fine, white porcelain they could buy from China, but it was very expensive and they did not know how to make it themselves. ... read more

0924　Berlin-Ostbahnhof Gleis 3　已經有點熱 　　還記得昨天在我後面的Gleis 1，當我還一邊等車一邊原地轉圈時，一名男子手持一枝白玫瑰在等待著。終於，一輛從奧地利開出的列車到站，男子從從人潮中看見女子慢步走出來，擁抱良久（有親吻嗎？不記得了）然後男的為女的背囊，擁著並肩而去。   　　跑出大冷門！原來'0.6 Hamann'是法國人！怪不得前晚很心急想知我對法國哪些地方有興趣，同時今早面對面吃早餐時表示不知道Buchenwald在德國境內。因為往Dresden的「直通車」近10時才開出，我今早七時才起床，並可以把壽眉茶葉斟進茶壺中慢慢泡（也不知喝了n杯，所以現在不像近幾天般睏得要死）也可以與'0.6 Hamann'詳談一番。他是位教師，怪不得他會在上床前看書，今早我瞟了封面一眼，是有關Alexanderplatz的。我一說起今天要到Dresden，他便告訴我當地有一個甚麼甚麼展覽，果然是位教師。 0951　EC173 　　他又問起香港97前後的分別。他在柏林逗留頗長時間（大概近兩星期吧），也正如他所說，柏林需要很多時間去發掘探索。 1918　RE 38242@Lutherstadt Wittenberg 　　Dresden......集眾人之厚望，到達後發現又是地盤一個。迎幾天的方向感差了，下車出站後向了南的相反方向走。經過公園蕩至一座叫Altmarkt Gallerie的商場地下，終於發現有燒雞。在家姐短訊提醒下，結果買了半隻。買雞送又硬又熱烘烘的麵包，我切了三片雞夾在麵包中間，吃得下「雞包」時剩下的肉已放涼了（本來這半隻雞不知已燒好多久，我說要買時才放入微波爐加熱），厚肉的部分乾得嚥不下。 　　此時發生了一段小插曲：一位老伯一時拿不穩，盤上的啤酒瓶跌了，散得滿地玻璃碎，直到我的腳前（但聲音卻是出奇的沉厚）。職員慢慢地（真的很慢，在香港的話，便要跟眼明手快的阿嬸好好學習） 用地拖，用布，最嚇人的竟然用手！連細小的碎片也用手，我對面的男人也禁不住提醒她幾句。 　　終於來到書中指... read more

I've seen them before. Hundreds of times. But only in movies. Hans und Helga, the two arrogant, brusque, German customs officers. Riding alone, undisturbed in my coupe all the way from Prague to Berlin was too good to be true. "Does any of you speak any English?" Why do I even ask? I've seen the movies...what fun would it be if they did? The concept is simple: show us all your stuff! Now! "Do you have anything that you shouldn't have?", is probably a good translation from their language. "No, I don't", hoping the are not searching for booze. Of course they discover my bottle of absinthe. But they are not searching for booze. "By the way, you do not change trains in Berlin, you change trains in Dresden." About 10 minutes away, and my stuff ... read more