We have officially done every type of travel activity! We’ve been to museums, gone on a bike tour, stayed in hostels, taken in a double-decker bus tour, walked our asses off, been in the city, been in the country, taken the train, been to the beach and as of today we’ve hiked through a National Park. The vertical distance we hiked was 190 meters and took about half an hour. The view was amazing! Sandstone rock formations that were once under the ocean protruded out of the mountainside. For a 1.50 (euro) entrance fee, we toured our way through the ruins of a medieval fortress. There wasn’t much left of the fortress, but signs explained what was once there. The people who built this were nuts! Catwalks connected the different levels of each sandstone pillar. In its day the catwalks were built out of wood beams which rested in grooves chiseled out of the rock. You can still see grooves. Stairs were also still visible which were cut into the shear faces. Over one particularly large span, an arched bridge was constructed. My guess is it was constructed later on. A four star hotel and restaurant lie at the top of the mountain. On our way down the mountain we took an alternative route which took us to a small waterfall; it was more of a trickle, but still beautiful. We sat down and had an Apfelsaftschorle and Hanuta (Apple juice and cookies). I wanted to get another picture of the trickle, so I squatted down and rested my camera on the railing. Just as I was about to take the second picture, the trickle became a tsunami! It didn’t reach the railing, but it scared the crap out of me. I jumped up, grabbed my bag and looked around to see all the locals laughing. We found out later that for 0.30 cents the lady at the bar could open a small flood gate at the top of the water trickle. I can laugh about it now, but at the time I imagined us being washed down the canyon by a flash flood.
We headed for the car and drove back to Dresden. I had my ritual half hour nap in the car. Back in Dresden, we got out our handy dandy “Map of Dresden for Young Travelers” out. Curry and Co. ended up being our lunch of choice where we tried the National Award-Winning Currywurst. For 5 euro each we got a drink, medium seasoned fries and a cut-up hotdog (wurst) with a homemade peanut sauce sprinkled with curry. The peanut sauce was awesome! Who’d have thought that hotdogs and peanut sauce taste good together!!! It was an extra bonus that the cashier/cook/waiter was peanut sauce for the eyes.
After our 4:00pm lunch we walked around Neustadt quarters of Dresden. It’s a very artsy area where almost every building has been muralled, graffitied, or plastered with posters. Our map led us to a collection of inner squares which were decorated by local artists. A couple blocks down the street lye a large grassy area with a large Protestant church on the opposite edge. I really wanted to go in and after trying a dozen or so doors, the last door said “Closed on Mondays.” Ha! We walked around the Dresdener forest for a little while and then headed back to the hostel.
Tomorrow we will be in Stuttgart briefly to meet up with Christian (our former foreign exchange student) and Joe, a friend of Debbie’s for coffee.
-Heather :-)
