Facing the morning is hard, but when I know I have a hard
schedule to stick to with little flexibility (read: train to Dresden), there’s
no time for dillydallying. (That’s a ridiculous, but correct word choice). On
the two-hour ride, we passed forests of skinny red trees and haystacks in
small-town fields. In private six-seat cabins on board, we tried to think of as
many Harry Potter references as possible before taking a group nap to classical
music.
When I stepped off the train at Dresden, I saw a familiar
face: my mom’s college friend Marlies and her son Alex. I remember Alex as a
7-year-old, so it was confusing to see him a foot taller than me, and overall,
it was generally shocking to ‘run in to’ someone you know on a station platform
in Dresden. My mom had mentioned they were traveling in Germany, but it’s a
country with several millions of people so I thought the chances that I’d see
them, much less be on their train to Dresden, was just about none. We snapped a
quick pick and I had to run because the group was far off. Turned out our hotel
was only two blocks away in a tower visible for miles, so I probably could’ve
chatted for another minute and caught up to the group.
The Ibis Hotel seemed fine, but our rooms were not ready, so
we locked up our luggage and went off to explore. Melanie and I had bonded over
our love of churches and decided to set out for Dresden’s finest. Disclaimer: I
really knew nothing about Dresden before arriving, other than a vague memory of
some history class 2-second mention of a WWII bombing. The city, an
architectural-style dream of cathedrals, plazas, museums and palaces, was a
cultural mecca for hundreds of years, and then the war happened and everything
got destroyed. One might expect to go on some walking tour and look at rubble
and monuments, but none can be found. Instead, the city has been rebuilt, a
copy of itself pre-war to the T. This makes it appear like Dulock, the town in
Shrek. And since this weekend was the City Festival, 600,000 people filled the
streets for concerts, games, sights, and plenty of drinking and eating. Think
about all the German Kitsch plus Medieval Times and you basically have my first
day in Dresden.
After eating our boxed lunches in the shade of the rebuilt
Frauenkirche, Ben and Daneel encouraged me, Melanie and Ally to get up and
explore. We found a block-long painting of princes, two more plazas filled with
festival junk, and a courtyard with many iron-wrought animal heads on top of
pillars. In the crowd, Daneel and I got separated from the other three, and
phoneless as usual, had no choice but to brave the city without them. We walked
through the cobblestone streets trying to decipher if anything at all was ‘original’
before arriving back at the Frauenkirche. Inside, we listened to some organ
music and gazed at all the pretty things. Unfortunately, the organ player
either couldn’t make up his mind about what to play or was teaching a lesson
because the music kept starting and stopping in a terrible tease. Then, a man talked
about Jeremiah’s teachings for a while, but in German. After that, Ben found us
in the crowd cathedral and we were reunited, 5 Jews admiring Jesus-inspired art
and architecture in the heart of Dresden. After a few more minutes of that, we
headed back to the group for our next activity.
The Royal Art Collection is housed in an old palace that,
like everything else, was destroyed and rebuilt. A nice person gave us a tour,
I think a man, but that’s how little I remember it already. The gallery walls
were covered in all sizes of paintings, many with more impressive frames than
contents. The most famous is from the 1500s, a Raphael of Mary holding a
terrified toddler Jesus, but the important part is these two cherubic naked
angel babies looking totally bored at the bottom. You’d likely recognize them
if you went through Learning-to-Look or some similar basic art awareness
program. The guide was very knowledgeable on the collection and had a clear
enthusiasm for all of the paintings and their preservation, pointing out sketch-marks
and shading that had meaning beneath the top coat. I sort of wandered around,
coming up with backstories for the scenes and lifestories for the portraits. I
can’t explain the one of a nude lady snuggling with a goose, but if I ever
return, I’ll have to ask an expert.
After the museum, I decided to wander the
festival a bit more and look for a snack. A ska band played outside the opera
house, with dozens of tiny stands with currywurst and vats of colorful wine
blends. Stephanie and I got frozen yogurt before realizing there was an
incredible garlic smell nearby. We were drawn in, and ended up with a garlic
bread baguette with creamy cheese, tomatoes and chives on top. It was
delicious. Back at the hotel, I had some time to shower and rest, and watch TV
for the first time while here. The first English channel was CNBC, so I got
caught up on Money Matters. It seems like everything is good back home. On my
way down to meet the group, something very, very, very dramatic happened…
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