EXPLORING DRESDEN

Wednesday, September 17th, 1997 Bamburg, Germany

Off to an early start, we were eating breakfast by 7:15 AM and then out the door for the long drive out of Berlin. I finished a batch of postcards and mailed them this morning to some of the family. Took a lot of skill by both Jim and Dave to get us through the maze of streets to the autobahn. But we persisted and finally made our way to the wonderful city of Dresden. It was hard to leave after only a few hours as there is so much to see and do in Dresden.

It can be depressing as they are still in the process of repairing many of the old buildings. Some are still in their bombed out condition without any repairs. They are trying to get everything ready for the 800 year celebration in the year 2006. We talked about coming back to see them all finished. The size of the buildings are overwhelming. And so many of them! To prolong our visit, Jim went to the car to put more money in the meter and we stayed to eat lunch on a bench overlooking the Ebe River which flows through Dresden. Enjoyed our breakfast takeout sandwiches along with beer that we purchased from a sidewalk café.

Back in the car and on the road to Bamburg. A long trip…Shari & I both took naps while the boys navigated us south. Upon arrival we discovered another jewel in Germany. A very quaint town full of churches, window boxes, hills with all kinds of old houses, etc. It is over 1000 years old. We met a man named Jim from Seattle as we came out of the grocery store. He and his wife spend several months a year traveling in Europe. He walked with us quite a ways to share travel stories. Seemed to enjoy conversing with fellow Americans. We watched from the bridge as boys tried to see how long they could hold their Kayaks in the center of the water fall before being pushed out. There were about ten boys in the group and they continued to take turns at the challenge for several hours. Probably as entertainment for the tourists!

We found the German Restaurant that was recommended by both Frommer’s and the hotel named: Historischer Brauereiausschank Schlenkerla which has a special beer that taste like smoked ham called Rauchbier. Very good. We had Bratwurst, kraut and potatoes. Dropped the bottles of water back at the hotel and then walk for about an hour through the streets and up to the Dom (cathedral) which was all lit up for the night skies. Back at the hotel it was time to wash hair, make a call home and get notes updated.