Here I am in Dresden

Well, I made it through Berlin, and arrived in Dresden on Tuesday PM. Found a hostel near the train station and downtown, so that's where I'm camped. Only problem is no laundry facilities and none nearby. Hope Prague has some.

Back to Berlin. On Monday, I did the museum thing. First the Alte (Old) Museum, with an exhibition on one floor of Grecian artifacts. The second floor had an Egxptian exhibit.

There were several other museums on "Museum Island" but they were undergoing some reconstruction/refurbishment. So I went to the historical museum nearbye. Their theme was postwar Germany, with a fine film (unfortunately narrated in German only) about the times from the end of the war to reunification. Even without dialog, it was very interesting.

Two floors of exhibits were filled with photos covering the same time period. The individual captions were only in German, but each section had a general description in English. It gave a good cultutal, political, and basic view of life and attitudes on both sides of the East/West line.

From there I walked to the Brandenburg gate and over to the Reichstag, or parliament building. Burned and bombed to a shell, but reconstructed. It has a glass dome on the roof, and a circular path to near the peak of the dome. Great views.

Then on to a really good dinner on Unter Den Linden Strasse. I'm told it means "Under the lime trees", but they didn't look like any lime trees I've seen. Who am I to complain?

Wandered around the area near the hotel on Tuesday AM before the train to Dresden. Not much exciting. Mostly business buildings, no residential that I could find.

When I got to Dresden, I wandered around town to get my bearings. Huge number of really old buildings here. Dresden was nearly leveled close to the end of WWII. Most buildings have been rebuilt. What I don't understand is the varied colors of the buildings. Many are close to black, from age and smoke. Some have mixtures of black and light brown to yellow shading, with no rhyme or reason to the pattern. Looks like thyey rebuilt with some old material and some new. And some look brand new. Tis a puzzelment!!! But still beautiful to see.

Yesterday I took the Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour, as there is too much territory to cover when walking. Went to several Schloss's (Castles), but they looked more like what I#c call mansions, not castles. Couldn't get inside, so I was a bit disappointed. Also saw soem interesting parts of town. Found teh Botanical Garden, but not many flowers.

VW has a factory here. It's referred to as the "Glass Factory". No, It doesn' make glass for VW's. It makes VW's- Its a glass building. At least all teh outside is glass. I'm sure there's a lot of steel supporting it. Quite impressive, though.

Had dinner in a restaurant in a cellar. How can you go wrong eating in a cellar in Germany. Not possible. I did have a good dinner. They seated me at a table with a visitor from Japan, so we had a great time trying to talk. He spoke more English than I do anything. Reminds me od a joke I heard, in Geramy years ago.

What is a person who is bi-lingual? A person who speaks two languages.

What is a person who is tri-lingual? A person who speaks three languages.

What is a person who is mono-lingual?

ready for this?

An American.

How true.

Moving on. I got my ticket to Prague, and I leave tomorrow just after noon, 2 hour trip. Tains are really nice, by the way.

This afternoon, I walked to the Neustadt (New Town) part of Dresden over the Elbe river. Wasn't the Elbe where the allied armies had to stop advancing and wait for the Russians to take Berlin? Anyway, I had a nice walk, and a quick lunch, then back to Dresden proper.

Went to the (you guessed it) museum complex. This time the art museum. Many of the old master's, whose names I've heard, but know nothing about. Included were El Greco, Goya, Rubens, and Raphael's painting, the "Sistine Madonna". Anyone remeber the photo I forwarded from Mexico of cherubs smoking? Same cherubs at the bottom of this painting, but sans cigarettes.

Then to the armory. Lots of swords, flintlocks, and suits of armor. The detailed engraving and inlay work was more interesting than the primary exhibits. I got busted twice today taking photos. I turned my flash off, as I am supossed to do, but I found out I also have to have a special ticket to take photos.

I wanted to see teh porcelain exhibit, but my ticket wans't good for that, and there wasn't much time left, so I decided to pass. Two ladies who were leaving overheard my predicament, and gave me an extra ticket they had. Said 45 minutes would be enough time. So I went. Thanks, ladies.

Glad I did. It cleared up something I've been puzzling about since I've been here. I've always heard of "Dresden China" but have seen no mention of it since arriving. Turns out (it appears) that Dresden China is the porcelain collection in Dresden started by Agustus the Strong in the early 1700's. Porcelain is actually manufactured near here, in Meissen, but the copllection is Chinese, Japanese and also some from Meissen.

It's way past my supper time, and I think I'll head back to the cellar one more time. I#ll try my hand at posting this on the blog. Wish me luck.

Addition, I Hope

Looks like only part of my first posting from Berlin made it to the BLOG. So I just tried pasting the missing stuff in. We'll see what happens.

Also, seems to take a while from the time I tell it to post, and it actually makes it. Modern Science!!!!!!

In Dresden now. I'll tell you more once I know more.

I did learn something in Berlin yesterday. Anyone remember Droughtbuster Dick from last year? He still has his powers. And has learned a new way to make it stop raining. First, leave the rain hat in the hotel, 'cause you know it won't rain. Then when it starts to rain, buy a souvenier hat. Since you paid good Euro's for it, it won't rain for the rest of the day.

That's all for now

Once again from Berlin

Since my BLOG page comes up in German instead of English, I can't seem to find the "PUBLISH" button, no matter how many different buttons I try. You blog afficionados will just have to wait until my linguistic skills improve.

I'm beginnning to age again. Slept the whole nite through last nite. For once it's good to grow older.

Just an aside. For those of you who might come here, and have concerns about all the walking on the walking tours, don't worry. There are no hills to worry about. Berlin was built on a swanp, and who ever heard of a hilly swamp?

Trains live up to their reputation. I took a photo of one arriving the day before yesterday. So what's so unique about that? It was 10 minutes late!! I could probably blackmail DB (rail system) with that photo.

Reason I'm writing this, is because I had extra minutes on the terminal, and I hated to see them go to waste.

Update from Berlin

Well, I made it. I read recently that jet lag is less noticable as one ages. I must be getting younger, because it' getting to me a lot more after the 9 hour flight here than the 12 hour flight home from NZ did last year.

On arrival I took a cab to the hotel I'd reserved. Near the airport, and public trasportation. Right, except I flew into Tegel Apt, north west of Berlin, and the hotel was next to Schonefeld Apt, SE end of Berlin. Needless to say, a big fare. No tip, as he was not very knowledgable about Berlin. Hotel is nice, so that's some consolation.

Took a bus tour of Berlin to get oriented. Narrated in German, then English, then Italian. Not bad, but it was easy to get distracted and miss the transition to English. I did see the remnants of the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie among other interesting sites.

Walked around a while, and found a boat tour on the Spree river. Took that mainly to relax. The guide was really good, animated, witty, knowledgable, everything you could ask for. She even sang. Only problem was that she did the narration only in German. She did forwarn me, and I was OK with it.

Then took the train to Potsdam, site of the conference that split Germany up. Didn' find the location during my walk while there, but did eat a good meal at an outdoor restaurant. Very dull looking town, with the exception of one small, vibrant shopping area. On Friday (if zou see a z where a y should be, thez are interchanged on these kezboards, and that's not the only disconcerting thing).

I took a walking tour I'd found out about at the Brandenburg Gate the day before. Much better than the bus. There are at least two free tours, and I recomend them highly. Guides I spoke to were American, Irish (2) and Australian. All easier for me to understand than the Germans who narrate in English. And the one on my tour really knew his stuff. The girl from AU (competing tour company) and I had a nice time discussing my visit to her homeland. She was from Adelaide.

After the walking tour, I went up the Berlin version of the space needle, for lack of a better description. Good views of Berlin, but go up early in the day, to avoid the haze.

There was an open market near the train staion, , so I bought several good sandwiches,

more sweet rolls than
I should have, and several beers, and enjoyed people
watching.  There was entertainment as well.  A drum
and bugle corps, great one (aren't they all???)

Today was the day for the Berlin Marathon.  Before I
got to the area where I could see the runners, I did a
bit of walking through a park, and general
site-seeing.  Then watched the marathon for a while
from various vantage points. Saw some of the leaders
as they whizzed by.  They run faster while runnning a
marathon than I do when running 10 yards (as do nearly
all the marathoners).  Walked to the finish line and
watched herds of runners finish, amidst great applause
from the fans, and (saw these everywhere I stopped to
watch) groups of exhuberant drummers.

On a more sober note, I visited the Jewish Museum.  It
really made the holocast a personal thing.  The first
half, at least, was simply photos and letters of/from
victims.  It really is moving to read their personal
thoughts.  The design of the building really enhances
the experience, as well.  If here, make it a point to
see it.

That about covers the first three days here.  I leave
for Dresden on Tuesday, so that's probably where the
next update will come from.

Last day at home

Well, I'm about to leave on my adventure. Hopefully, I'll have everything I need packed when I finally close the doors and head out. If not, so be it. I do have my outside Christmas lites up. My kind neighbors will turn them on about Thanksgiving. No inside decorations up yet. They're all waiting patiently in their boxes for my return. Don't tell them, but this year, except for a choice few, they may spend Christmas in the boxes.

Weather here today is cool and windy, with a bit of rain last nite. Some send-off, right?

I did accomplish one thing I had hoped to before I left. My picture is now permanently displayed on the Blog. At least I think it is. It was on the test page. Is that, and even having a BLOG, just another form of self-aggrandizement? (I'll miss my dictionary while I'm gone, unless I can stick to words of less than 6 letters.)

Next one will be from Germany.

Well, I finally published a photo to the BLOG. Wasn't able to put it over in the "About Me" section, where it would be permanent, but at least it's on the BLOG. Very few of you have known me long enough to remember me with this style haircut. I doubt if Doug or Lynda even remember this. Probably too young.

I think I'm pretty well set for the trip. I've practiced packing and it looks like everything I need will fit. Of course, a decision was made that there were a few things I didn't need. Hope I'll be able to find the laundromats. And based on last year's experience in the rain, several cans of waterproofing have been used. So there, Member's Only and your so-called weatherproof windbreakers.

Heading for Tucson tomorrow for a football reunion. No, T, > 50, it's been 54 years since I last played, at least in something more than a pickup game. Back home Sunday nite, then off on the big bird on Wed.

Have Fun, Everyone

How about that haircut? No worries for the next few months! 

Just a quick thought

Just watched the benefit concert for New Orleans. Two thoughts.

1. Do as I'm about to do and donate through either:

www.redcross.org

or

www.salvationarmyUSA.org

Wasn't it nice that none of the entertainers had their names displayed? I thought so.