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Published: February 18th 2007
What a great place. We arrived into Dresden by train from Berlin, and walked across town to find our hostel. It was dark and raining, and we nearly got blown off the bridge into the Elbe, but it was fun!
We found Homestay Lollis pretty easily, and knew instantly that we wanted to stay for a few nights. The reception staff were so friendy and helpful, and the dorm was warm, comfortable and nicely decorated, with lace drapes and cuddly toys tied to each bed. Claire was very happy!
On our first night we met an Australian girl called Emma, who happened to come from the same suburb that I (Ciara) stayed in in Melbourne, and went to the same school as Amy Teasdale, the girl I stayed with out there. Small world.
Emma was really nice and she joined us that evening to cook dinner, and then extended her stay in Dresden to spend the next day with us as well. We spent that day exploring the Old Town and checking out the University where Emma is hoping to spend a year of her studies. We spent ages looking for the University Mensa where we had been advised to go for a cheap lunch, but when we finally got there at 4pm it had been closed for an hour! We decided instead to grab some subs from a burger van and then sit inside a bagel cafe drinking tea. We were there til 6pm when we decided we should head home and get some dinner. We made the most amazing cottage pie, and then sat around drinking beers and chilling out to "Radio Paradise" - awesome!
Emma left the next morning and we returned to the Old Town to revisit the sites we'd simply breezed through the previous day, such as the Zwinger (Royal Palacial Residence), the Church of Our Lady, which had been completely destroyed in the war, and rebuilt to an incredible standard. There was also the mural of the Kings of Germany, and the Semper Opera House. On the way back to the hostel we passed the "Blue Note" Jazz Bar, advertising live jazz that evening, so after another fantastic dinner of potato and carrot pie we headed out. The music was all improvised, and the atmosphere was laid back. We stayed til the music finished, then headed up the road to "El Cubanito", the Cuban cocktail bar across the road from our hostel. We stayed there til 3am, drinking mojitos, daiquiries and margheritas, until we realised that Claire had fallen asleep and everybody else had left!
The next day we decided to explore the newer side of town, spending the afternoon wandering among the Bohemian shops and stalls of the northern side of town. This had such a great feel to it - so chilled out and interesting, without being at all pretentious. We spent the evening organising our departure - we planned a day trip to the National Park of Saxon Switzerland which looked beautiful in the brochures. The friendly hostel receptionist gave us loads of advice on where to visit, where to store our bags, where to stay nearby. In the end we booked a pension just over the Czech border near the town of Decin. We planned to stay there for one night then move on to our next city, but little did we know what was to come...!!
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Terri
non-member comment
travelling is awesome
i loved the story of claire falling asleep in a bar and the italian bitch. hehe. we have a lovely girl called becky in our dorm. she's from adelaide and she spent some time in durham with her boyfriend. how cool is that?? we discussed the pointlessness of jelly fish and wasps. oooh and she called us poms. hehe. germany sounds awesome. just saw the pics of the pods too... how cool. i want to stay somewhere with cuddly toys on the beds! i love the fact alcohol is so much cheaper. hehe. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx much love and thans for the message fitties