In 1945, Allied bombers wiped out Dresden, Germany. Why? I’m not exactly sure, but I do know that history sets the number of dead at 35,000 in one night of fire. The city that was once home to German royalty was destroyed, and one of Europe’s most beautiful cathedrals was left in ruins. After that, Dresden was left to decay under Soviet control until the wall fell. I’m not trying to draw sympathy for Nazis or communists; rather I’m trying to paint a stark picture between Dresden then, and Dresden now.
In all actuality, it was a great trip! There are a ton of cool museums that have everything from 17th century masterpieces (I’m still surprised at how the Italian painters depicted little blonde hair, blue eyed, baby Jesus) to jewels from centuries of German royalty. I obviously couldn’t take any pictures in the museums, but here’s a picture of August the Strong’s statue. He was a pimp (believed to have fathered more than 365 children) and had great taste in jewelry.
Actually, I’m just going to go ahead and post some more random pictures of Dresden right now.
The weather was great so one afternoon we decided to rent bikes from the train station and explore the out skirts of Dresden. The German country/river side is truly beautiful, and might rival some of the things I saw in Scotland.
The building is obviously really cool, but that’s not even half of it. The Phaeton is one of the nicest cars that 100k Euros can buy. The plant floors are nice Canadian Oak, the workers all wear white gloves and screw in everything by hand. Jetson like robots bring parts to the workers, and tests after test make sure every car is superior. Yada yada yada…the seats have massagers and other cool stuff. I don’t know the stupid tour was in German…
Anyway so right before the all-German service begins, I get tapped on the shoulder by an attendant from the church. The service was absolutely packed, and so I’m guessing that she was asking me if I would give my seat to an elderly lady or something noble like that. Unfortunately I don’t know German, so I just kindly smiled and said, “Sprechen keine deutsch”. Her response was very surprising as she made a terrible face and kind of “pwashed” at me. When I turned back around confused, Brandon informed me that I had kindly told the woman...
As you can see, they’ve put some money back into it.
BLIND BOOKING
Our trip all started when we did a little thing called, “blind booking”. For only 19 Euros (roughly 29 USD) you can get a plane ticket to one of many destinations throughout Europe – Ireland, England, Spain, Italy….and Dresden, Germany. No worries though. Didn’t you know that Dresden is a hopping tourist spot for old German people in tour vans and young Dutch yuppies with strollers? Neither did we!
In all actuality, it was a great trip! There are a ton of cool museums that have everything from 17th century masterpieces (I’m still surprised at how the Italian painters depicted little blonde hair, blue eyed, baby Jesus) to jewels from centuries of German royalty. I obviously couldn’t take any pictures in the museums, but here’s a picture of August the Strong’s statue. He was a pimp (believed to have fathered more than 365 children) and had great taste in jewelry.
Actually, I’m just going to go ahead and post some more random pictures of Dresden right now. The weather was great so one afternoon we decided to rent bikes from the train station and explore the out skirts of Dresden. The German country/river side is truly beautiful, and might rival some of the things I saw in Scotland. VONNEGUT
During The Second World War, one of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was a prisoner of war in Dresden. He was actually in the basement of a meat packing plant the night of the bombings, and his most famous novel, Slaughterhouse Five, is about the event (it’s also about aliens though). I convinced my crew to ride out with me to the site of where the building where he held captive was once stood. There’s no historical marker or gift shop, so here’s me next to the street sign (which translates into “Slaughterhouse” … and he was in the 5th building …get it?)
So it goes…
THE GLASS FACTORY
On Sunday we had a tour of Volkswagen’s glass factory. It’s actually not a place where they make glass, but a glass walled manufacturing plant for their luxury car The Phaeton.
On Sunday we had a tour of Volkswagen’s glass factory. It’s actually not a place where they make glass, but a glass walled manufacturing plant for their luxury car The Phaeton.
The building is obviously really cool, but that’s not even half of it. The Phaeton is one of the nicest cars that 100k Euros can buy. The plant floors are nice Canadian Oak, the workers all wear white gloves and screw in everything by hand. Jetson like robots bring parts to the workers, and tests after test make sure every car is superior. Yada yada yada…the seats have massagers and other cool stuff. I don’t know the stupid tour was in German…FUNNY STORY
We were lucky enough to visit this famous rebuilt church (the black stone is from the original building) while they were having a service, and we sat in. I don’t know if you can tell how awesome the organ is from this picture, but it was impressive to hear in person!
Anyway so right before the all-German service begins, I get tapped on the shoulder by an attendant from the church. The service was absolutely packed, and so I’m guessing that she was asking me if I would give my seat to an elderly lady or something noble like that. Unfortunately I don’t know German, so I just kindly smiled and said, “Sprechen keine deutsch”. Her response was very surprising as she made a terrible face and kind of “pwashed” at me. When I turned back around confused, Brandon informed me that I had kindly told the woman...“You don’t speak German.”
Going to the grocery store is also an adventure. After grocery shopping in the US for 18 years or so, you take for granted your brand awareness. How am I suppose to know the good brand of toilet paper, and which kind of mustard is the really delicious kind they give me at the bratwurst stand? Also, why are the German’s obsessed with cheese? At least they do recycling right, but that’s a topic for another post!
Until next time, prost!
“Sprecha keine deutsch” means “I don’t speak German”.
Oops.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
Although mostly everyone does speak English here, it’s not 100% accurate, and we often forget that we are now the foreign exchange students who don’t understand simple things and end up making asses of themselves. Case in point, today we went to look into getting a gym membership. We were about 5 minutes into the initial interview/account set up when we were informed that we were at a ladies only gym. I knew that the row of patrons on the elliptical were way too good to be true! I felt like I was in some teenage romantic comedy. Horribly embarrassing.
Going to the grocery store is also an adventure. After grocery shopping in the US for 18 years or so, you take for granted your brand awareness. How am I suppose to know the good brand of toilet paper, and which kind of mustard is the really delicious kind they give me at the bratwurst stand? Also, why are the German’s obsessed with cheese? At least they do recycling right, but that’s a topic for another post!
Until next time, prost!
Nate
