I planned the trip with my German friend, Lydia who has been featured here before when she visited me in St. Andrews last October.
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Lydia and I in St. Andrews in October 2012. :)
Lydia and I met five and half years ago when she was a German exchange student at my high school in Concord, New Hampshire. We were close friends throughout the year, and her year in the U.S. contributed to my decision to spend a full year abroad at St. Andrews. She visited New Hampshire again the following year (2009) and in 2011 visited me at Saint Michael's. This was the first opportunity I had to visit her in Germany and we hoped to spend a couple days there before heading to Vienna along with Lydia's friend Kristin. Lydia is from very far eastern Germany where Poland and the Czech Replublic merge with Germany and she's attending university in Griefswald on the northern Baltic coast. I flew into Berlin Tuesday evening after flying Edinburgh to London. While touching down at London Heathrow, it was a beautifully clear day, and as I tend to get overly excited about aerial views of cities, I was beyond pumped to find we flew directly above Windsor Castle right before touching down. Thinking back to my Tudors course and seeing the Union Jack flag was flying (meaning the Queen was present) I was pretty excited. Also seeing the gardens surrounding the castle from above was quite beautiful.
When I prepared to board my flight for Berlin in London I began to feel the language barrier. At our airport gate in London, the flight to Berlin was a bit delayed and we all were quite silent as a loud television broadcast the evening BBC news. Many of the passengers spoke in German, and we all had our passports available. EU passports were held by most of the passengers. BBC News focused on the crisis in Cyprus, and a crowd of us gathered around the television. Most passengers laughed as news was given that Great Britain was flying $1 million euros to British travelers unable to access ATM's in the crisis zone. The news then turned to the tenth anniversary of "the U.S. led invasion of Iraq". Groans and sighs were heard and I readjusted my hands to somewhat shield my U.S. passport. I've spoken with several British friends about their views of the Iraq war, and I've found just as it's an unpopular war in the U.S., it is even more unpopular in Great Britain. Former prime minister Tony Blair continues to defend his decision to involve Britain.
The flight was a couple hours to Berlin where the weather was snowy. We touched down around 7pm, where it was dark and cloudy but a dusting of snow was visible throughout the city. Once off the plane, I was met with a German airport that was much smaller and easier to navigate than I had expected. Directly from the plane, the Polizei cleared and stamped my passport with a 'Berlin' stamp and I found (and hugged!) Lydia once we spotted each other. From there, we headed outside where it was much colder than the sea air of St. Andrews and temperate weather of the United Kingdom I had become used to. It continued to snow and we searched outside the airport for our bus to Dresden, a city two hours south of Berlin, also in East Germany, in the state of Saxony.
Since I've known her, Lydia's english has always been nearly perfect, and I soon noticed in Berlin that we were the only ones on the bus speaking English. I tried to speak quietly, but my accent was definitely picked up on by the older bus riders and Lydia explained that only in the last twenty years have German students learned English, previously the assigned language for students was Russian.
The bus ride was so peaceful and smooth. It was snowy all along the German 'Autobahn' (the highway) and I was able to sleep a bit before we arrived in Dresden. Lydia's aunt met us at the train staion in Dresden shortly after 11pm. As we exited the bus, other riders who lived in Dresden approached Lydia and after hearing us speak English, spoke to her in German recommending to her various attractions we should see in Dresden. Lydia's aunt originally planned to host us for two nights but was having her kitchen renovated and was very kind to pay for us to stay in a bed and breakfast in her neighborhood. It was so wonderful of her, and every attempt I made (in English) to thank her was a bit awkward, but Lydia was a great translator and I was happy I had brought along a few Scottish gifts. Before falling asleep that evening, Lydia and I laughed far too much and ate Belarusian cookies.
Dresden was beautiful. It has a city population of about 500,000 and like Berlin, still has a definite East Germany influence. It's a bit older, more traditional, eastern and more old-fashioned than West Germany, and was very damaged during the allied bombing in World War II (90% of the inner city was destroyed) but is beautifully baroque and also one of Europe's greenest cities as nature and trees are blended into the city. A distinct old town and new town exists and the cathedrals, architecture, river running through the city and abundance of trees (although bare as Dresden is far deeper in winter than the UK is) was gorgeous.
Lydia continued to help me with the language that first day, translating menus and conversations. She mentioned the Dresden accent being much different from other German accents but just as the Germans we interacted with were unsure if I was speaking in an American or British English accent, I never noticed the varying German accents. As Lydia continued to translate conversations and help me with the language, the individuals we interacted with often asked her in German if I was British or American. Lydia would explain in rapid German and then mention that I was studying in Schottland. Often too, the individuals chose to practice their English with me, and it often became a confusing situation for all jumping between the two languages. While I did pick up a few German words that first day, it was more the pronunciations and intonations of German that stayed in my head much of the evening. The -icht -aicht -dreicht -nei -aucht endings of words stayed and absent-mindedly worked their way incorrectly into my English words.
Early in the afternoon, we attended a Protestant service in a beautiful church (entirely in German which Lydia was so kind to translate in full!) but with my travel the day before, I struggled to stay awake.
The church where I drifted in and out of sleep...
It was a bit snowy and chilly, but Luther was always looking good.
Later that day, we enjoyed traditional German döner, a wrap-like sandwich with meat, cabbage, sauces and a small bit of cheese that reminded me of a burrito. :) We also enjoyed German chocolate, and later that evening, visited a grocery store to stock up for our seven-hour train ride to Vienna the following morning and I bought a soft pretzel (or bretzel) and a pint of beer.
The staircase in the Bed and Breakfast in Dresden.
Along a city wall in Dresden depicting the rulers of Saxony.
A bit frightening.
Lydia among the cherubs.
Near the Dresden Opera House.
A large cathedral in Dresden.
Meeting up with Kristin was also nice, she was so friendly and sweet and she traveled with us the following day to Vienna. Kristin's English was quite basic, and while the three of us were able to converse, in slow English, it was often Lydia and Kristin speaking in German or Lydia and I speaking in English with Lydia as the common translator.
The following morning, we boarded our train for Vienna. The train station was beautifully modern and reminded me of being at King's Cross rail station in London in December. We boarded our train and found a compartment. The train was headed for Budapest, Hungary with stops in Prague and Vienna among other small towns in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. The distance to the Czech Republic was only about an hour, and immediately before we crossed the border, a small group of polizei came through the train cars looking for anything suspicious and the German train operators changed to Czech operators.
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