oneward and southward... dresden

Knowing that I will be back in berlin at the end of the trip, i decided to head out early to dresden. Dresden is my second stop mostly due to geographical convenience, on the way to Prague, but also because of a curiousity implanted by 'slaughterhouse five'.

dresden 1

before i get into dresden, some general observations of germany thus far...

berlin has an impatient aura about it reminiscent of new york. there have been multiple occasions where i was in line for something, literally 3 feet (excuse me, 1 meter) from the person ahead of me. then, when itäs my turn, bam... someone blatantly cuts in front of me. i learned fast though... i pulled the trick a couple times in the train station.

dresden 2

secondly, the unbelievable proliferation of beer. i knew going in that beer is huge here, but nothing could have prepared me for the culture of beer, or drinking in general, here. it is completely normal... and i cant emphasize this enough, completely normal to drink anywhere at any time, anywhere. beer is sold everwhere, and is drank everwhere. iäm pretty sure i have never been 7 feet in either berlin or dresden without seeing beer for sale. i walk down the street, i see people drinking beer. i get on the train, people are drinking beer. i wake up at 7 am and walk to a bakery, i see people drinking beer. in the train station waitin to go to dresden, sitting at a snack stand thing, a guy walks up and orders some kind of liquor. the woman hands him a 1 serving bottle, he pays, then turns and walks off as he opens it, downs it, and tosses the empty bottle in the trash literally 10 ft away. oh, did i mention that it was 10:30 am? none of this is meant to be judgement, just amused observation.

anyway, dresden. beautiful city. great vibes, x factor, aura, etc. the people are very nice, not curt like berlin. much more relaxed city. a truly defining trait of many cities is density of businesses adequately high to allow one to simply walk at random and see what they find to do. try this in atlanta, or perhaps richmond. and, of course, there are a handful of beautiful monuments, etc. i have only wandered thus far, though, so i dont know which, of any, have any particularly interesting meaning or purpose.

that all said... my day here was a bit hellacious. it's about 5 30 pm now, i have been up since 5 am (jet lag). it took me about 5 hours to find a campground. first the impossible to find tourist info center, then multiple poor directions leading to an unbelievable amound of back and forth bus and tram trips, and walking, and finally a couple guys taking pity on me and driving me the last couple minutes, apparently recognizing the futility of me trying to find it on my own. they were engineering students to boot, my exact age.

well, that was a really, really long entry. bye.

ps- camping is a much bigger pain than expected. i may abandon the idea if hostel prices continue to be what i think that they will be. also, i am not allergic to my sleeping bag, it was apparently a rebound from the decongestant.