This past weekend my roommate Sammi and I took a short trip to Dresden, Germany. We wanted to get out of town and Dresden seemed like a great place for our first mini Europe trip since it's only a short train ride and I sort of speak the language there. We originally planned on being getting there on Friday and staying until Sunday, but we tried to book the hostel too late, so there were no rooms available for Friday. We ended up leaving on Saturday and leaving Sunday afternoon. We were only in town for about 24 hours total, but it ended up being just the right amount of time to have in Dresden.
The train ride from Prague to Dresden was really nice and we saw a lot of the Czech countryside. The only fall back was that we got on the train too late and we ended up having to sit with a German man named Stefan. He seemed nice enough, but he talked the whooooooooole time. Even when I started reading my book and Sammi started dozing off, he interrupted whatever we were doing to keep the one-sided conversation going. Another problem with the train ride was that halfway through, the train broke down and we had to wait for an hour for a new engine to arrive, which meant extra time with Stefan and less time in Dresden.
By the time we finally got to Dresden, we were starving. Our hostel was only a short walk from the train station, so we checked in and went to look for a restaurant recommended by my guidebook called Planwirtschaft. It was a great find. Not only did it have a great atmosphere, it also specialized in locally grown food.
After our wonderful meal, Sammi and I spent the evening wandering Dresden's Neustadt. Dresden is basically divided by the Elbe River into the Altstadt and the Neustadt. The Altstadt is where all of the historical, touristy things are and the Neustadt is known for its youthful, alternative community. We thought that we would have plenty to do just by wandering the Neustadt, but there seemed to be no one in the entire city! Almost all of the stores were closed and there was practically no one out on the streets. It was a little disappointing, and we almost gave up early to spend the night in our hostel, but we forced ourselves to go out and enjoy our time in Dresden. First, we went to a place called the Schokolade Bar for dessert and coffee where I successfully ordered completely in German! (It was kind of a highlight of my weekend.) After that, we walked around for awhile looking for a jazz bar that the woman at the front desk of our hostel recommended called the Blue Note. It took a while, but we finally found it and it ended up being a lot of fun. There was a singer/guitar player performing and he was actually pretty good. We called it a night during his intermission though so we could hopefully get to sleep early enough to get up early and see the Altstadt.
As desolate as the Neustadt was while we were there, one of the cool things about it was all of the graffiti. Usually, graffiti makes a city look dirty and trashy, but in Dresden's Neustadt, it adds to the city's character. A lot of the graffiti is very artistic and it plays a big part in the young, alternative image of the city.
In the morning, we woke up and made our way to the Altstadt. It was a cold and slushy day just like Saturday had been, but we had a good time in the Altstadt. There are lots of churches and old buildings in the Altstadt including the Frauenkirche, the Hauptkatholischeskirche, and the Kreuzkirche. We weren't able to go into any of the churches for some reason, but we were able to peek into the Frauenkirche and it looked beautiful! I think it was a relief to be in the Altstadt just because there were actually people there!
The highlight of Sunday once again was the food. We used another suggestion from my guidebook and ate at Cafe Aha! right next the the Kreuzkirche. Cafe Aha specializes in "ecologically sound" foods and the result is delicious. Most of their foods are organic and/or free trade and they even had a special menu to correspond to their current display. I think Dad would have loved this trip to Dresden just based on the wonderful locally grown, organic meals that we ate while we were there.
All in all, I can't say that the trip to Dresden was phenomenal, but it was a fun adventure with a lot of great food.
And this coming weekend...PARIS!!!!!!!
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