Dresden Days
Trip Start
Jun 04, 2008
1
10
17
Trip End
Ongoing
Dresden,
Saxony,
Germany
Friday, July 4, 2008
We left Prague quite hungover just after I finished my last blog. The roads out of Prague combined to form a labrinth that caused us much despair as we tried to leave the city. Once we escaped it was smooth sailing all the way through to Dresden. The scenery on the way was less than spectacular but we were in good spirits and had high hopes of Dresden. We were on our way to visit Ina, a friend of mine that I met in Guatemala. We hung out together in San Pedro (The place where the horny old woman made me feel like a piece of meat). Ina had invited us to go stay with her for a few days in her shared apartment n Dresden. Quite disapointed that I'd missed out on meeting a lot of my friends whilst in the Netherlands and Belgium (mostly due to bad timing) I was determined to meet my quirky, cheerful friend from Allemagne.
When we arrived in Dresden (a large city) we suddenly wished we'd brought a map. We had an address and that was it. After unsuccesfully trrying to obtain help from some locals we gave Ina a call and she told me to meet her at Neustradt station. We parked the car near (so we thought) Neustradt and asked a guy for directions. His reply was "it's only 2 or 3.... ummmm" assuming he was trying to say minutes I thanked him and we began walking towards the station. Half an hour later we arrived and I realised that the guy wanted to say kilometres, Oh well. We bumped into Ina and gave each other big hugs.
As she walked us to her apartment we caught up on each others goss.
Matt and Mother duck
The apartment was clean, full of beer and much bigger than the car, it was heaven. The housemates were all cool girls and we felt welcome from the start. Matt and I bought some ingredients and decided to cook the girls pizza. I offered to go and pick up the car whilst Matt cooked which is where the tragic saga began. Little did I know it ws going to be a long night. It was raining buckets outside so I took a tram over to where I though the car was roughly situated. The tram went a couple of stops further then I wanted but I decided it'd be quicker to walk than wait for another tram. I got out and surveyed the area and realised I was much further East then anticipated. Opting against taking a tram back I began running along the streets in the general direction of the car. What followed was 3 hours of running around like a madman in the pouring rain looking for the car. Feelings of determination and utter dis belief plagued me as I ran from intersection to intersection, tram station to tram station. I had no idea where it was. Soaked to the bone I callled the guys and told them the wonderful news, they said they were waiting for me before eating so, deciding to come and get the car the next day, I jumped on a tram and made the 30 min journey that would take me home.The pizza was fantastic. Thank god something went right that night. The guys listened to me as I tried to excuse my terrible sense of direction by making... well excuses. We callled it a night and slept like logs in our first comfortable bed in a month.
The gang
When we woke up Ina (the self nicknamed "Mother duck") made us breakfast and headed off for uni. Matt and I retraced the day before's steps and found the car so easily that it was a joke. We checked the car over for a parking ticket or even worse a tyre lock and felt like we'd gotten out of jail free when we found nothing, sweet nothing. We jumped in the car beaming with joy because we knew that now we could finally enjoy Dresden with Ina and her housemates without a worry.
How quickly joy turned to disbelief, an emotion I was becoming all too familiar with, I'd left the lights on overnight and the battery was flat. We were screwed! I ran around in my rather odd clothing (I had worn Ina's as I had no fresh clothes when I got back to her house the night before) asking people if they had some cables to jump start the car. The ones that couldn't understand me simply said "no". The people that understood me simply said "no, sorry". In my clown pants and bright Tshirt I walked back to the car with my tail between my legs, "I am such a loser".
We took some clothes back to Ina's and I told her about the ordeal, she reassured us that her mums partner who was visiting that night would give us a jump. I fixed Ina's puntured bike tyre in a record 1.5 hours and was relieved to have done something right in the last 24 hours (allbeit unbelievably slowly).
That night Inas family came around to watch her presentation of her travels around South and Central America.
Dreden city tour
Her family were friendly but unable to speak English. We watched the presentation and were then tretaed to a South American style feast. Afterwards In and I went and got the car with her parents and finally got Karl home safely. After we got back a few of us went to the local circus bar which is a travelling bar that comes to town twice a year, it was sick.As we walked in to the dimly lit grassy corridors we were confronted by weird clowns, ringmasters and small tent fronts. The tent fronts had men in old suits shouting at the people as they passed by, in German of course. They were trying to persuade people to enter their tents and see theatrical performances for 5 Euros. As we walked around with a beer in hand listening to the Phantom of the Operalike organ music I felt like I was in a dream. Unsure whether it was a nightmare or not it was definetly a surreal place and kept telling the guys how freaking awesome it was. Eventually we'd had enough and walked back to the apartment.
The next day mother duck made us breakfast again. Matt and I were both in love with the girl that loved our terrible jokes and made us breakfast everyday. Ina gave us a tour of Dresden which really is a beautiful city. It is known as one of Germany's best for historical architecture and it did not disappoint. Our final stop was for coffee but not until after Matt and I had did a little shoping. I bought a hat and we both bought suspenders. I wore the full kit with a tucked in shirt through the streets and realised I officially have a little bit of a gut. Mat assured me he'd his out that night. In the evening Ina's housemate cooked us an amazing Lasagna as we had a few beers and listened to her boyfriend (Karsten) play some tunes on guitar. He had a magical voice and hearing him play aswell as hearing his recorded version of Hallelujah (which I swear put Jeff Buckley to shame) was a very humbling experience. We went out that night and Matt as promised wore his suspenders. It was a bit lame and after a few beers we went home.
The next day we woke up reluctantly, we really didn't want to leave. Ina had been a wonderful host and her housemates were lovely. It was great to see an old friend but for the second time I had to say goodbye. One of the greatest parts is travelling is meeting great people yet ironically one of the worst parts is that to be a traveller you must eventually leave them.
We packed the car, gave Ina big hugs and jumped in Karl. He started and we drove away quacking out the window to our one and only mother duck.
Comments
itchy feet
Miss you two comic characters so much. You were wonderful guests and I'd loved to jump into Karl too for some adventures. It became boring again by the moment you turned the corner. when ever you are near please drop over!
Sincerely your Mama Duck
itchy feet
Miss you two comic characters so much. You were wonderful guests and I'd loved to jump into Karl too for some adventures. It became boring again by the moment you turned the corner. when ever you are near please drop over!
Sincerely your Mama Duck