Dresden, Meissen, and Berlin
What a fast two weeks it has been! Joe left this afternoon to return to the US, and I have one last week to travel and explore, before I too, return home from my wild 6 month Europe adventure.
Wednesday, Joe and I left Innsbruck. We took a bus back to Munich, where we caught a train that would take us to Dresden, Germany. Dresden is known for being one of the cities that was completely destroyed during WWII. As we were on the train to Dresden, our train was delayed for over an hour. It was bizarre. I guessed that someone had jumped in front of the train like they do in Italy, but Joe just laughed at me like I was crazy. Come to find out, some construction workers in Dresden found a live bomb from WWII and had spent the morning disarming the bomb. It was crazy! It’s weird to think that not all the bombs from the war have been found yet, and it’s pretty common to find them throughout Germany. After finally making it to our airbnb, we set out to explore our little neighborhood and find some dinner. We celebrated our first night back in Germany with a traditional German dinner and of course, ice cream.
The next morning, Joe and I made breakfast before taking a day trip to Meissen, Germany. Meissen is known for it’s famous porcelan production, and unlike Dresden, Meissen was completely untouched by WWII. So that was pretty cool. While we were there, we visited the church, where we could climb up to the top. It was one of the coolest towers I think I have ever climbed. A woman working in the church gave us this old key and told us to go around the corner to the stairs and climb up. It was really fun! We could see the inside where the watchman and his family lived, and all the old church bells that were used back in the early 1900s. It was so cool and the view was amazing!
Next, we went to the castle, and inside there was a huge cathedral. As we were approaching the entrance, we noticed there was an entrance fee of a few euros, but somehow Joe and I managed to blend in with a tourist group that consisted of old married German couples. I still wonder how we looked like we fit in with the 75 year old German couples… but free tickets are always nice. After exploring the cathedral and walking around the castle, we headed back to Dresden to explore more of the city. We got to see the main palace, cathedrals, city square, etc. We had a ton of fun walking around and exploring the city of Dresden. For dinner that night, Joe and I had a little picnic in our Airbnb. We bought some mystery meat, fruit, cheese and crackers, and a pizza to make at home. We were really proud of ourselves and were enjoying our meal, until we realized the pizza we bought had tuna fish on it…. Who puts tuna on a pizza? Not the Italians. That’s for sure.
On Friday, Joe and I took a bus to our next destination: Berlin, Germany! Our airbnb was in this really cool, old apartment owned by a little old man, David. Come to find out, he owns this huge apartment, lives there, and rents out 5 of the rooms to tourists and travelers. We swear he was a secret millionare or something. It was crazy how nice his apartment was. He gave us a ton of reccomendations as to what to see and do in Berlin, including the best and worst currywurst stand in the city… We didn’t realize that was a thing, but apparently it is. So that evening we set out to try some currywurst and explore part of Berlin.
Currywurst, is an over glorified hotdog, swimming in ketchup, which a little bit of curry powder sprinkled on top. Joe and I didn’t really understand the love for currywurst. I guess we aren’t true Berliners. We saw the famous “half church”, which was a church that was partially hit by a bomb in WWII. Half the church is gone, but pieces of it remains and is now a WWII museum. It was cool to go inside and see the beautiful designs and how they were able to reconstruct the mosiacs and part of the builiding. They have now built another church right next to it, using all the pieces of old stained glass to create a beautiful backdrop to the alter. It was really cool! Then we went to the Berlin Victory Column. On our way there, we were walking past this big park and we look over to see a bunch of nude men. Apparently Berlin has a nude park. So that was.. um.. interesting. It was a good laugh, that’s for sure. We climbed to the top of the Victory Column to get the most beautiful view of Berlin. We could see in every direction and it was cool!
For dinner that night we sat down for dinner, and after I ordered a beer, the waiter asked me if I wanted “red or green”. I should have known then that I wasn’t getting a real beer, but whatever. When my “beer” came, it was in a wine glass with a sweet strawberry flavor to it. So I didn’t get beer… I got some weird fruity “beer” drink. I learned my lesson. Never drink red, green, blue, or any other color beer. It’s not actually beer.
The next morning, Joe and I had breakfast at a cute little café near our airbnb. Joe got his first experience with “tartar” (raw beef) and that was a fun little adventure. According to Joe, “meat is not meant to be consumed raw”. We spent the day exploring the famous buildings and monuments of Berlin. We saw the Holocaust museum, the Berlin Wall, Reichstag Building, went beer tasting, and much more. We had a great day! To end the night, we met up with Joe’s brother’s friend Greta, who lives in Berlin. She took us to a really good Arabian restaurant, a cool bar, and a famous hang out spot for drinks along the river. It was so much fun to meet her and hang out with a true Berliner. We hope she comes to visit Portland soon!
On Sunday, Joe and I went to visit Charlie’s check-point. Apparently it’s the point in the Berlin wall that the Americans took over. I thought it was going to be a lot cooler than it was. As Joe said, “wow, a hut.” Needless to say, we werent really impressed. So we got on the metro and went to this old abandoned airport that has since been turned into a park where families and go to ride their bikes on the runway, have picnics, etc. It was actually a really cool idea for a park. We rented some bikes and rode around for a while, got some icecream and just hung out. As we were sitting there a nice little thunderstorm rolled through. It was fun to sit and watch the little storm that was going on around us.
After dinner, we looked up cool bars around us, and found this “cool” karoke bar (It was the only one open on Sunday…). When we got there, we felt very out of place. We were the youngest people there by far. Everyone else was in their mid 40s-60s and were singing songs we had never heard of before. I sat there laughing the whole time just because of how weird the whole situation was. We had a few bad drinks before calling it quits and heading to bed.
In one last effort to see Berlin, Joe and I took the trip to the top of the Berlin Radio Tower. It’s higher than the Space Needle and the Eiffel Tower, which was pretty cool. Just for the fun of it, we had our last German beer at the top of the tower looking out over the city of Berlin. Joe and I were rebels and stole our glasses from the bar. They were pretty cool, and we didn’t want to give up the chance to increase our mug/glass collection. We had a lot of fun hanging out in Berlin and exploring Europe.
Monday afternoon we started our journey back to Paris (that’s where Joe was flying home from). We spent a long time waiting at the bus stop for the bus to the airport that I eventually asked some random guy if we were even in the right spot. He seemed a little distraught and told us that the bus was just late. It didn’t bother us too much, as we had plenty of time (knowing me, we were very early). Next thing we know, the guy we had talked to pulled up in a taxi and told us to get in and he would take us to the airport. We were a little skeptical at first, but weren’t about to give up a ride. It was so nice of him to think of us and pick us up. I was about to offer to help pay for the taxi when he told us he works for the German government, and the department of German Defense would be paying for our taxi ride to the airport. I guess it pays to ask the right people the right questions.
After a delayed flight, we landed in Paris. Tuesday morning Joe and I had breakfast in the Paris CDG airport before we said goodbye and parted ways. I had an amazing trip with Joe! I’m sad to see it end, but am so thankful that he agreed to go on a crazy adventure with me across Europe. Hopefully there are many more adventures to come. :)
Wednesday, Joe and I left Innsbruck. We took a bus back to Munich, where we caught a train that would take us to Dresden, Germany. Dresden is known for being one of the cities that was completely destroyed during WWII. As we were on the train to Dresden, our train was delayed for over an hour. It was bizarre. I guessed that someone had jumped in front of the train like they do in Italy, but Joe just laughed at me like I was crazy. Come to find out, some construction workers in Dresden found a live bomb from WWII and had spent the morning disarming the bomb. It was crazy! It’s weird to think that not all the bombs from the war have been found yet, and it’s pretty common to find them throughout Germany. After finally making it to our airbnb, we set out to explore our little neighborhood and find some dinner. We celebrated our first night back in Germany with a traditional German dinner and of course, ice cream.
The next morning, Joe and I made breakfast before taking a day trip to Meissen, Germany. Meissen is known for it’s famous porcelan production, and unlike Dresden, Meissen was completely untouched by WWII. So that was pretty cool. While we were there, we visited the church, where we could climb up to the top. It was one of the coolest towers I think I have ever climbed. A woman working in the church gave us this old key and told us to go around the corner to the stairs and climb up. It was really fun! We could see the inside where the watchman and his family lived, and all the old church bells that were used back in the early 1900s. It was so cool and the view was amazing!
Next, we went to the castle, and inside there was a huge cathedral. As we were approaching the entrance, we noticed there was an entrance fee of a few euros, but somehow Joe and I managed to blend in with a tourist group that consisted of old married German couples. I still wonder how we looked like we fit in with the 75 year old German couples… but free tickets are always nice. After exploring the cathedral and walking around the castle, we headed back to Dresden to explore more of the city. We got to see the main palace, cathedrals, city square, etc. We had a ton of fun walking around and exploring the city of Dresden. For dinner that night, Joe and I had a little picnic in our Airbnb. We bought some mystery meat, fruit, cheese and crackers, and a pizza to make at home. We were really proud of ourselves and were enjoying our meal, until we realized the pizza we bought had tuna fish on it…. Who puts tuna on a pizza? Not the Italians. That’s for sure.
On Friday, Joe and I took a bus to our next destination: Berlin, Germany! Our airbnb was in this really cool, old apartment owned by a little old man, David. Come to find out, he owns this huge apartment, lives there, and rents out 5 of the rooms to tourists and travelers. We swear he was a secret millionare or something. It was crazy how nice his apartment was. He gave us a ton of reccomendations as to what to see and do in Berlin, including the best and worst currywurst stand in the city… We didn’t realize that was a thing, but apparently it is. So that evening we set out to try some currywurst and explore part of Berlin.
Currywurst, is an over glorified hotdog, swimming in ketchup, which a little bit of curry powder sprinkled on top. Joe and I didn’t really understand the love for currywurst. I guess we aren’t true Berliners. We saw the famous “half church”, which was a church that was partially hit by a bomb in WWII. Half the church is gone, but pieces of it remains and is now a WWII museum. It was cool to go inside and see the beautiful designs and how they were able to reconstruct the mosiacs and part of the builiding. They have now built another church right next to it, using all the pieces of old stained glass to create a beautiful backdrop to the alter. It was really cool! Then we went to the Berlin Victory Column. On our way there, we were walking past this big park and we look over to see a bunch of nude men. Apparently Berlin has a nude park. So that was.. um.. interesting. It was a good laugh, that’s for sure. We climbed to the top of the Victory Column to get the most beautiful view of Berlin. We could see in every direction and it was cool!
For dinner that night we sat down for dinner, and after I ordered a beer, the waiter asked me if I wanted “red or green”. I should have known then that I wasn’t getting a real beer, but whatever. When my “beer” came, it was in a wine glass with a sweet strawberry flavor to it. So I didn’t get beer… I got some weird fruity “beer” drink. I learned my lesson. Never drink red, green, blue, or any other color beer. It’s not actually beer.
The next morning, Joe and I had breakfast at a cute little café near our airbnb. Joe got his first experience with “tartar” (raw beef) and that was a fun little adventure. According to Joe, “meat is not meant to be consumed raw”. We spent the day exploring the famous buildings and monuments of Berlin. We saw the Holocaust museum, the Berlin Wall, Reichstag Building, went beer tasting, and much more. We had a great day! To end the night, we met up with Joe’s brother’s friend Greta, who lives in Berlin. She took us to a really good Arabian restaurant, a cool bar, and a famous hang out spot for drinks along the river. It was so much fun to meet her and hang out with a true Berliner. We hope she comes to visit Portland soon!
On Sunday, Joe and I went to visit Charlie’s check-point. Apparently it’s the point in the Berlin wall that the Americans took over. I thought it was going to be a lot cooler than it was. As Joe said, “wow, a hut.” Needless to say, we werent really impressed. So we got on the metro and went to this old abandoned airport that has since been turned into a park where families and go to ride their bikes on the runway, have picnics, etc. It was actually a really cool idea for a park. We rented some bikes and rode around for a while, got some icecream and just hung out. As we were sitting there a nice little thunderstorm rolled through. It was fun to sit and watch the little storm that was going on around us.
After dinner, we looked up cool bars around us, and found this “cool” karoke bar (It was the only one open on Sunday…). When we got there, we felt very out of place. We were the youngest people there by far. Everyone else was in their mid 40s-60s and were singing songs we had never heard of before. I sat there laughing the whole time just because of how weird the whole situation was. We had a few bad drinks before calling it quits and heading to bed.
In one last effort to see Berlin, Joe and I took the trip to the top of the Berlin Radio Tower. It’s higher than the Space Needle and the Eiffel Tower, which was pretty cool. Just for the fun of it, we had our last German beer at the top of the tower looking out over the city of Berlin. Joe and I were rebels and stole our glasses from the bar. They were pretty cool, and we didn’t want to give up the chance to increase our mug/glass collection. We had a lot of fun hanging out in Berlin and exploring Europe.
Monday afternoon we started our journey back to Paris (that’s where Joe was flying home from). We spent a long time waiting at the bus stop for the bus to the airport that I eventually asked some random guy if we were even in the right spot. He seemed a little distraught and told us that the bus was just late. It didn’t bother us too much, as we had plenty of time (knowing me, we were very early). Next thing we know, the guy we had talked to pulled up in a taxi and told us to get in and he would take us to the airport. We were a little skeptical at first, but weren’t about to give up a ride. It was so nice of him to think of us and pick us up. I was about to offer to help pay for the taxi when he told us he works for the German government, and the department of German Defense would be paying for our taxi ride to the airport. I guess it pays to ask the right people the right questions.
After a delayed flight, we landed in Paris. Tuesday morning Joe and I had breakfast in the Paris CDG airport before we said goodbye and parted ways. I had an amazing trip with Joe! I’m sad to see it end, but am so thankful that he agreed to go on a crazy adventure with me across Europe. Hopefully there are many more adventures to come. :)
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