7th January - Berlin-Dresden
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2008
1
12
28
Trip End
Jan 26, 2009
Dresden,
Saxony,
Germany
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
So we went back to the room and packed up our stuff and surfed the net/watched TV/read until 11.00, then checked out and caught the U then the S back to Hauptbahnhof. We wandered around the station admiring the many stores (such as Hertha BSC and many fashion stores). We had a snack of fruit and Streuseltaler and shared a coffee before descending to the DB platform. We arrived and found that our train was no longer departing from the Hauptbahnhof (presumably due to the weather conditions). We took the next train to Suedkreuz where our train was now to depart from. A fellow passenger tore a strip off a DB conductor in the process so well that even Darren understood even though the exchange was in German.
The journey to Dresden was uneventful apart from our compartment mate who got about 100 phone calls and wouldn't allow Darren to put her bag up on the ceiling rack. Also the compartment door wouldn't stay shut. But outside the windows there was a lot of snow and the fields and forests we passed through were very beautiful.
The announcement to say we would arrive at Dresden shortly was made and although it wasn't the main station, no mention was made of the main station so we jumped out and then got another train to where we were supposed to be, which Penny took care of while being very stressed about the tickets we had (which were not checked, and were right anyway). We caught the tram to the hotel, which is the cheapest we had stayed at and to be honest looked and smelled like it, but was OK really.
We caught another tram into town. It was getting dark, of course, being after 4pm, but even in the dark Dresden was incredibly lovely. We weren't entirely sure which buildings we were looking at but they definitely included the Frauenkirche (unfortunately closed for cleaning for 5 days), the Semperoper and the Residenz, where we visited the Neues Gruenes Gewoelbe, which houses the highlights of the Residenz's jewels. They were pretty incredible and Darren thought the family must have had a very big pool room to put them all in.
After some more walking around in the snow and admiring the beautiful old town, we took refuge in a pub opposite the Frauenkirche where we had a yummy dinner of pork medallions (Darren) and cabbage roll (Penny) and one of Jono's favourites, Schoefferhofer beer.
We then caught the tram back to the hotel for another early night. Our last night in Germany, which Penny was a bit sad about. We celebrated by watching yet more crappy German TV - the Germans seem to have reproduced all the same appalling American reality TV shows that we have and more.
