You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'Dresden' tag.
Greetings again!
We left Dresden this morning around 8:30 and got on the bus. It was our last bus ride with our current bus driver, Hans. Once we got through the state of Sachsen and into Bayern, we stopped off at the bus company and they switched drivers. Hans has another tour he has to do in Berlin soon and he also needed to go to the doctor, so we said farewell, knowing full well that we would miss him… and said “Hallo!” to our new bus driver, Tony.
After a (what our bus driver said would be the longest) 5 hour bus ride, we made it to the beautiful city of Rothenburg (ob der Tauber). We went directly to the Criminal Museum, a museum where they show the punishments and tortures of the medieval times. It is really interesting and eye opening to see the kinds of things that people were punished for (like quabbling women were stuck together for a couple days with a double neck violin until they got along).
After our time at the museum, we stopped for Eis (ice cream), which is becoming a regular thing for us… most kids eating Eis at least once a day… some eating it as many as 3-4 times per day… but when the Eis is only about 70 cents per ball, it’s probably the cheapest snack around… and definitely a nice cool down on these hot, muggy days. Oh, back to the story.
After the Criminal museum, we stopped for Eis… and the students got their first chance to eat Spaghetti-Eis! The Bethany kids have waited 3 years for this since Frau Gill first told them about it… and it was better than ever expected! (Check out the link so you see the beauty of Spaghetti-Eis) I have some pretty great photos of the kids enjoying this specialty… so someday if I can get my camera to upload…
Shortly thereafter we had some time to walk around the city and just enjoy the sights for a while. It is truly a beautiful city, maintained from the middle ages. It is always one of the favorite cities… and I heard at least three kids hoping they could come and live in Rothenburg either in their adult life or when they retire. I told them I would love to come and visit them often!
Then off to our Jugendherberge (youth hostel) for supper and a bit of relaxation.
At 8 o’clock, many of us met at the Rathaus (city hall) for a tour with the night watchman. He is fantastic. If you ever get to Rothenburg, he is an absolute “do-not-miss” attraction. He tells the story of the life of the night watchman in the middle ages and talks about life in general… he is funny, interesting, and you walk away knowing (and retaining!) so much information!
Once we were done with the tour, many of the students connected with some other Minnesota students who were in Germany for their last night. They played four-square, ping pong, and just talked. It was nice for them to connect with others like them and they got some tips about the rest of the trip (like a reminder that they will be eating Semmel/Brötchen for the rest of the trip for breakfast). And then it was time for bed!
Gute Nacht!
Greetings all from the state capital of Sachsen- Dresden!
We left early this morning from Berlin for the 2.5-3 hour drive to Dresden. Halfway there we stopped at a rest stop and used the bathroom (which, in Germany costs 50 cents… but they are super clean!) and a few of the students bought some German specialties like Mezzo Mix cola and good chocolate. Others stayed with the old standby of things like Pringles.
Then back in the bus and off to Dresden.
Once in Dresden, we first went to a transportation museum where they showed a video chronicling the history of Dresden from the 1800s until today. It was fantastic, and put the firebombing of Dresden into pictures/video for the kids… which made a difference as we looked at all of the buildings in the city on our city tour this afternoon. (I’ll link to some pictures next time I write)
Tthe tour of the city was very nice and we learned a lot about places like the Zwinger, the “Blaue Wunder” and all of the different living areas in Dresden. Dresden is called a “Kulturstadt” (a city of culture) and it is evident why.
Once our tour was finished, we had some time to walk around and check some things out. While walking around, we came into one of the squares in Dresden to see the beginning of a political demonstration. We’ve seen a couple of these so far (one about animal rights in Berlin). As the speaker was speaking, a number of police came and surrounded the demonstrators. The police were there and definitely kept the peace.. moving the demonstrators out of the road into a safer spot and then, because they were neo-Nazis, were continually watched by a large police force (it felt like the entire city’s police force was there) and a few got taken in for questioning and such. Some of the kids got some pretty cool photos of the police and even of the rest of the city as everyone was standing around and watching this take place.
Then it was time to go back to the bus (immer pünktlich sein) on time and off to our youth hostel.
