Dresden

Mon 8 March. Sheila and I said our good byes to Bernhard, the only one at home at the time of our departure: 7:00hrs. We got to the main station in time to buy provisions for the journey: sandwiches, pastries, and wine. The trip with a stopover in Fulda took about 4.5hours. We were seated immediately behind the engineer which gave us a view of the track in front of us. That was very cool. It was like an A ride at Great America. We zigzagged all over Germany: Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Leipzig, then Dresden. On our way into Leipzig, I noticed a marked change from clean and prosperous to run down and unkempt. Then I realized that we had crossed into what was once the GDR that is to say Eastern Germany. East Germany has only been reunited with the West since the early '90s. Much of this part of Germany reflect the effect of decades of Communist rule: empty buildings, buildings that appear to have been bombed out, piles of building rubble. It speaks to Germany"s problem of how to absorb the eastern part of Germany with the more prosperous west. When we got into Dresden, we were not paying attention and got off the train too soon. (One of our few mistakes) We soon recognized our error, got back on the next train and soon we were where we were supposed to be. We found our hostle after the usual orientation proceedure which has become a source of fun and adventure for us. We checked into the hostel early enough that we could go out and get oriented to the city. In 1944, Dresden was 80% destroyed by allied bombing that was intended to level this city. It's important to remember that much of WWII was waged against the civilian population on both sides. Cities like Dresden, Hamburg, Tokyo, London, and Coventry were singled out. You could not tell it by looking at this place. It's been completely rebuilt. Turn a corner and you see a mosaic depicting the centuries long procession of the Saxon kings. You see a church completely leveled in 1944 restored stone by stone to its original state. Sheila and I took it all in. We walked to the Elba River and walked the cobbled parkway above it beeing careful not to slip on the ice. We found a nice restaurant and split a small entree-our way of eating well but inexpensively. Back at the hotel we had a conversation with a couple from Japan. We had a great time sharing impressions of Europe from the eastern and western perspective. You gotta love international travel. Tues 9 March. Next day, we got out early because the reason we had come to Dresden really was to see the Zwinger Museum. Originally an 18th century palace meant to rival Versailles, it has been turned into a museum that houses great paintings, 14th-18th century military hardwear armour, lances, swords,muskets and the like, and a famous collection of porceline. In the art gallery, we were able to see some of the great masters: Reubens, Raphael, Rembrandt. We were particularly imressed with Raphael's Cistine Madonna and Reuben's Drunken Hercules. Wonderful. We had so little time though because we had to catch the 13:10 to Prague. We only spent a few moments in the Armory, and we were unable to see any of the porceline. We vowed to come back. After collecting our bags from the hostel's secure room and hustling to the station, we made our train with no problem. This is a lovely train ride along the banks of the Elbe River. We had long since relaxed into our travel day having crossed the border into Czech Republic, when the announcement came that they were having technical difficulties and we were to stop, off load to reboard a bus then be taken to some unnamed station to resume our travels. Well, that was a suprize. We were in the most foreign country I'd been in. There is no way we can understand the language either spoken or written. We have no idea where we were, and we have no idea how long this is going to take. The only thing we did know is it could have been a whole lot worse. It was a nice day not too cold. It could have been a blizzard. We the entire compliment of passengers were ushered off the train and lined up on the street outside the station. Most seemed indignant certainly inconvenienced and impatient. Sheila and I were the only ones who seemed to enjoy ourselves. We were joking about it having a good laugh. It's odd but when people are put out they tend to stay put out. No amount of mirth is going to change that. I have to say that not having an agenda is a very free feeling. In fact, not having an agenda may be the definition of staying in the moment. After about an hour wait and several bus loads we were on our way again. We were on the bus for forty minutes, and eventually reunited with our train( that looked exactly like the one we were on). We never found out why we were delayed. We eventually arrived in Prague. After the help of several angels, people who seem to exist to help us along our way, we located our hotel--U Zlateko jelena or white stag. More in the saga of Michael and Sheila's Big Adventure later. Love to all