Prague and Dresden

Hi People!

It’s been an awfully long time since I wrote to you last. Personally, I’m not a fan of it, but that’s the way it goes when you don’t have internet, ye ken? So far, the trip has been good, but Vienna is still the best city in Europe as far as I’m concerned. So how about we go through what I’ve done so far, and you can agree with me later if you don’t already.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Saturday was a VERY early day because we had to be behind the Opera for 7:45, and the bus was leaving at 8:00. Matt had gotten up early to pack because the night before some of his clothes were still wet from washing them. I was pretty impressed because all three of us managed to get out of the apartment on time (about 7:10). We got to where we needed to be around 7:40, and it looked like we were the first ones there. Which wasn’t a good sign. Because some people couldn’t get their butts out of bed on time, the bus didn’t leave until after 8:30, which is just ridiculous. If it had been me in charge of the whole shebang, that bus would have been pulling out of Vienna at 8:00, whether or not everybody was there. That’s probably why I’m not in charge of trips like this.

It took a decently long time to get to Prague. This wasn’t helped by the fact that we got lost on the only road we saw. We spent a lot of time in gas station parking lots, but I had a book from the apartment with me, so I was pretty okay with the whole thing. We also passed this really interesting looking place out in the middle of nowhere. It’s called Excalibur Land, and it’s kind of like an uber-commercialized medieval town. We’re talking like large, plastic-looking dragons and the whole nine yards. When we got through the boarder, the guards checked our passports, but I guess since we were not actually staying there for any amount of time, we didn’t get stamps.

We finally got to Prague, which is called Praha in the Czech Republic, around 1:00. At first I thought we were just going to do a drive-though version because the bus didn’t seem to be slowing down. But after a zipping through the city once, we pulled up near one of the bridges and everybody unloaded. Prague is built on a river, so there’s a lot of bridges since the city is actually on both sides.

The land where Prague was to be built has been settled since the Paleolithic Age. Several thousands of years ago, there were trade routes connecting southern parts of Europe to northern Europe which passed through this area, following the course of the river. From around 500 BC the Celt tribe known as the Boii, were the first known inhabitants of this region known by name. The Boii named the region Bohemia and the river Vltava. In between the 6th and the 9th AD the Germanic tribe Marcomanni migrated to Bohemia and other Germanic tribes followed during the 5th century AD, but in the 6th century their elites and majority of inhabitants moved to the Danubian area which enabled a Slavic tribe invading from the West, to settle this area. The Czech Slavic tribe came to Bohemia in the 6th century and Forefather Czech became the founder of the Czech nation.

According to legends, Princess Libuše, the sovereign of the Czech tribe, married a humble plowman by the name of Přemysl and founded the dynasty carrying the same name. The legendary Princess saw many prophecies from her castle Libusin, which was located in central Bohemia. (Archaeological finds dating back to the seventh century support this theory). In one prophecy, it is told, she foresaw the glory of Prague. One day she had a vision: "I see a vast city, whose glory will touch the stars! I see a place in the middle of a forest where a steep cliff rises above the Vltava River. There is a man, who is chiseling the threshold (prah) for the house. A castle named Prague (Praha) will be built there. Just as the princes and the dukes stoop in front of a threshold, they will bow to the castle and to the city around it. It will be honored, renowned of great repute, and praise will be bestowed upon it by the entire world."

From around 936, the Czech rulers got most of Bohemia under their control. The first Bohemian ruler acknowledged by the historians was Czech Prince Borivoj Premyslovec, who ruled in the second half of the 9th century. He and his wife Ludmila (who became a patron saint of Bohemia after her death) were baptized by Metodej, who (together with his brother Cyril) brought Christianity to Moravia in 863. Borivoj moved his seat from the fortified settlement Levý Hradec to a place called Prague (Praha). It was also called the Prague castle grounds or shortly Prague Castle. Since Borivoj's reign, it became the seat of the Czech rulers. (Prague Castle became the largest inhabited fortress in the world, and is the seat of the Czech president today).

Borivoj's grandson, Prince Wenceslas, initiated friendly relations with the Saxon dynasty. Wenceslas wanted Bohemia to become an equal partner in a bigger empire. (Just as Bohemia had belonged to Great Moravia in the 9th century and to Samo's empire in the 7th century; both of these empires had been founded to resist the attacks of the Avars). Orientation towards the Saxons was not favored by his brother Boleslav, and it was the main reason why Prince Wenceslas was assassinated on September 28, 929. He was buried at St. Vitus' Rotunda, the church which he founded. (It stood on the ground where St. Wenceslas' Chapel in St. Vitus Cathedral now is). A few years later Wenceslas was canonized and he became Bohemia's most beloved patron saint. He is "Good King Wenceslas" from the Christmas carol. In 962, Boleslav changed his mind and Bohemia became part of the newly instituted Roman Empire when Otto I the Great from the Saxon dynasty became the emperor. (It was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, the exact term being adapted in the 12th century).

By the early 10th century, the area around and below Prague Castle had developed into an important seat for trading, where merchants coming from all over Europe gathered. In 965, a Jewish merchant and traveler, called Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub wrote: "Prague is built from stone and lime, and it has the biggest trade center. Slavs are on the whole courageous and brave... They occupy the lands which are the most fertile and abundant with all the food supply."

In 973, a bishopric was founded in Bohemia with the bishop's palace located on the Prague castle grounds. The first Czech bishop was Adalbert who became a Czech, Polish and Hungarian patron saint after he was canonized in 999.

Next to the Romanesque fortified settlement of Prague, another Romanesque fortified settlement was built across the river Vltava at Vysehrad in the 11th century. During the reign of Prince Vratislav II, who rose to the title of King of Bohemia Vratislav I in 1085, Vysehrad became the temporary seat of Czech rulers.

Prince Vladislav II rose to the title of King of Bohemia Vladislav I in 1158. Many monasteries and many churches were built under the rule of Vladislav I. The Strahov Monastery, built after the Romanesque style, was founded in 1142. The first bridge over the river Vltava — the Judith Bridge — was build in 1170. (It crumbled in 1342 and a new bridge, later called the Charles Bridge was built in its place in 1357).

In 1212, Bohemia became a kingdom when Prince Premysl Otakar I rose to the title of King by inheritance from Frederick II (Emperor from 1215), which was legalized in the document called the "Golden Bull of Sicily". The king's daughter became another Bohemian saint. Agnes preferred to enter the convent than to marry Emperor Frederick II.

In the 13th century, the towns started to rise. Three settlements around the Prague castle grounds gained the privilege of a town. The settlement below Prague Castle became New Town of Prague in 1257 under King Otakar II, and it was later renamed Little Quarter of Prague Malá Strana. The town of Hradčany which was built around its square, just outside of the Prague's castle grounds, dates to 1320. Across the river Vltava, the Old Town of Prague Staré Město had already gained the privilege of a town in 1230.

In the 13th century, King Premysl Otakar II was the most powerful king of the Holy Roman Empire during his reign, known as the King of Iron and Gold. He ruled in seven other countries, and his reign stretched from Silesia to the Adriatic coast.

The Premyslovec dynasty ruled until 1306 when the male line died out. The inheriting dynasty was the Luxembourg dynasty when Eliska, sister of the last Premyslovec ruler, married John of Luxembourg.

The city flourished during the 14th century during the reign of Charles IV, of the Luxembourg dynasty. Charles was the oldest son of Czech Princess Eliska Premyslovna and John of Luxembourg. He was born in Prague in 1316 and he became the King of Bohemia upon the death of his father in 1346. Due to Charles' efforts, the bishopric of Prague was raised to an archbishopric in 1344. On April 7, 1348 he founded the first university in central, northern and eastern Europe, which is today called the Charles University, which is the oldest Czech university and was the first German university . At the same year he also founded New Town (Nové Město) adjacent to Old Town. Charles rebuilt the Prague Castle and Vysehrad, and a new bridge was erected, now called the Charles Bridge. The construction of St. Vitus' Cathedral had also begun. Many new churches were founded. In 1355, Charles was crowned the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in Rome. Prague became the capital of Holy Roman Empire. Charles wanted Prague to become one of the most beautiful cities in the world. He wanted Prague to be the dominant city in the whole empire, the Prague Castle the dominant site in the city and the stately Gothic Cathedral to be more dominant than Prague Castle. Everything was built in a grandiose Gothic style and decorated with an independent art style, called the Bohemian school. During the reign of Emperor Charles IV, the Czech Lands were among the most powerful in Europe.

All that changed during the reign of weak King Wenceslas IV, son of Charles IV. During the reign of King Wenceslas IV — Václav IV — (1378–1419), Master Jan Hus, a preacher and the university's rector, held his sermons in Prague in the Bethlehem Chapel, speaking in Czech to enlarge as much as possible the diffusion of his ideas about the reformation of the church. His execution in 1415 in Constance (of accused heresy) led four years later to the Hussite wars (following the defenestration, when the people rebelled under the command of the Prague priest Jan Želivský and threw the city's counselors from the New Town Hall). King Wenceslas IV died 16 days later. His younger stepbrother Sigismund was the legitimate one to inherit the crown. But the Hussites opposed Sigismund and so he came to Prague with an army of 30,000 crusaders. He planned to get capitulation of Prague and the crown. (It was Sigismund, who invited Jan Hus to Constance to defend himself from heresy and he promised him immunity, but he didn't keep his word). In 1420, peasant rebels, led by the famous general Jan Žižka, along with Hussite troops, defeated Sigismund (Zikmund, son of Charles IV) in the Battle of Vítkov Mountain. There were more crusades, all of which ended in failure. But after Zizka died, the Hussite were not united anymore. Eventually they split. The most radical Hussites were finally defeated at the battle of Lipany in 1434 when the moderate Hussites got together with the Czech Catholics. Sigismund became King of Bohemia.

In 1437, Sigismund died. The male line of Luxembourg dynasty died out. Husband of Sigismund's daughter Elizabeth, Duke of Austria Albert II, became the Bohemian king for two years (until his death). Then, the next in line for Bohemian crown was grandson of Sigismund, born after his father's death, and thus called Ladislaw Posthumous. When he died 17 years old, nobleman George of Podebrady, former advisor of Ladislaus, was chosen as the Bohemian king both by the Catholics and by the Ultraquist Hussites. He was called the Hussite king. During his reign, the pope called for the crusade against the Czech heretics. The crusade was lead by King of Hungary Matthius Corvinus who, after the crusade, became also King of Bohemia. George did not abdicate. Bohemia had two kings. George, before his death, made an arrangement with Polish King Casimir IV that the next Bohemian king will come from the Jagellon dynasty. (The wife of King Casimir IV was the sister of late Ladislaus Posthumous and so her son Vladislav was related to the Luxembourg dynasty and also to the original Bohemian Premyslovec dynasty). The Jagellon dynasty ruled only until 1526 when the Jagellon dynasty died out with Ludwig Jagellon, son of Vladislav Jagellon.

The next Bohemian king became Ferdinand Habsburg, husband of Ann Jagellon, who was sister of Ludwig Jagellon. It was the beginning of the Habsburg dynasty. After Ferdinand's brother Charles V resigned in 1556 as Emperor, Ferdinand was elected Emperor in 1558. After he died, his son Maximilian II inherited all his titles and then upon his death, his son Rudolf II inherited all the titles. It was during the reign of Emperor Rudolf II, when there was another glorious time for Prague. Prague became the cultural center of Holy Roman Empire again. Rudolf was related to the Jagellon dynasty, to the Luxemburg dynasty and to the Premyslovec dynasty. But he was also related to Spanish Joan the Mad (the daughter of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon); Joan was the mother of Rudolf's grandfather. Although Rudolf II was very talented, he was eccentric and he suffered from depression. Emperor Rudolf II lived in Prague Castle, where he held his bizarre courts of the astrologers, the magicians and other strange figures. But it was a prosperous period for the city; famous people living there included the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, the painters Giuseppe Arcimboldo, B. Spranger, Hans von Aachen, J. Heintz and others. In 1609, under the influence of the Protestant estates, Rudolf II (a devout Catholic), issued "Imperial Charter of Emperor" in which he legalized extensive religious freedom unparalled in Europe of that period. Many German Protestants (both Lutherans and Calvinists) immigrated to Bohemia. (One of them was Count J.M. Thurn, a German Lutheran; under his leadership the Third Defenestration of Prague happened in 1618 and it led to the Thirty Years War).

Next in line for Bohemian crown was Rudolf's brother Matthias, but since Matthias was childless, his cousin, the archduke Ferdinand of Styria, was preliminary accepted by the Bohemian Diet as the future Bohemian king when Matthias became ill. The Protestant estates of Bohemia didn't like this decision. Tension between the Protestants and the Catholics (who were pro-Habsburgs) led to the Third Defenestration of Prague when the Catholic governors were thrown from the windows at Prague Castle on May 23, 1618. They survived, but the Protestants replaced the Catholic governors. This incident led to the Thirty Years War. When Matthias died, Ferdinand of Styria was elected Emperor as Emperor Ferdinand II, but was not accepted as King of Bohemia by the Protestant directors. Calvinist Frederick V of Pfalz was elected King of Bohemia. The Battle on the White Mountain followed on November 8, 1620. Emperor Ferdinand II was helped by not only Catholic Spain, Catholic Poland, and Catholic Bavaria, but also by Lutheran Saxon (who disliked the Calvinists). The Protestant army, lead by the warior Count J.M. Thurn, was formed from the Protestant armies, mostly Lutheran Silesia, Lusatias, and Moravia. It was mainly the battle between the Protestants and the Catholics. The Catholics won and Emperor Ferdinand II became King of Bohemia. He proclaimed the re-Catholicization of the Czech Lands. Twenty seven Protestant leaders were executed in Old Town Square in Prague on June 21, 1621. (Executed were three noblemen, seven knights and seventeen burghers, including Dr. Jan Jesenius, the rector of Prague university). Most Protestant leaders fled, including Count J.M. Thurn; those who had stayed didn't expect such a harsh punishment. The Protestants had to return all the Catholic seized property to the Church. No faith other than Catholic was permitted. The upper classes were given the option either to emigrate or to convert to Catholicism. The German language was given equal rights with the Czech language. After the Peace of Westphalia, Ferdinand II moved the court to Vienna, and Prague began a steady decline which reduced the population from the 60,000 it had had in the years before the war to 20,000.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague has become one of Europe's (and the world's) most popular tourist destinations. It is the sixth most visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin.^[2] Prague suffered considerably less damage during World War II than some other major cities in the region, allowing most of its historic architecture to stay true to form. It contains one of the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, from Art Nouveau to Baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-Classical and ultra-modern. Some of the most known sights are:

• Old Town (Staré Město) with its Old Town Square
• The Astronomical Clock
• The picturesque Charles Bridge
• New Town (Nové město) with its busy and historic Wenceslas Square
• Malá Strana (Lesser Quarter)
• Prague Castle (the largest castle in the world) with its St. Vitus Cathedral
• Josefov (the old Jewish quarter) with Old Jewish Cemetery and Old New Synagogue
• The Lennon Wall
• Vinohrady
• The museum of Heydrich assassination in the crypt of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius
• National Museum
• Vyšehrad castle
• Petřínská rozhledna, an observation tower on Petřín hill, which is nearly a 1:5 copy of the Eiffel Tower
• Anděl (neighborhood) which is probably the busiest part of the city with a super modern shopping mall and architecture
• Žižkov Television Tower with observation deck
• The New Jewish Cemetery in Olšany, location of Franz Kafka's grave
• The Metronome, a giant, functional metronome that looms over the city
• The Dancing House (Fred and Ginger Building)
• The Mucha Museum, showcasing the Art Nouveau works of Alfons Mucha
• Places connected to writers living in the city, such as Franz Kafka.

We crossed the bridge and walked over into the city square. Jan Hus is the statue in the center. Although the building somewhat resembled those I saw in Austria, especially the apartment buildings with the interestingly-colored facades, the feeling of the city was very different. The square contained the aforementioned statue, as well as two churches and the town hall. There were also the apartment buildings, but I don’t know the names for the rest of the important-looking buildings. However, there were weddings going on in both the church and town hall.

On the side of the town hall tower is a ginormous astrological clock. I took a lot of pictures of it, and will upload them with captions eventually. You can also climb to the top of the tower, and since this costs money, and since the Czech Republic doesn’t use the Euro yet, Natalia and I had to go and change some of our Euros over to Czech Crons (pronounced crowns). We have a bit of it in the apartment, the coins, which are more interesting anyway, so I think I might swipe a couple to put in my memory book. Anyway, after our money was changed over, we go in line for tickets to climb the tower. They were only 80 Cron each, and since the exchange rate is something like 24 Cron to 1 Euro, it wasn’t too expensive.

Inside the tower, you have your choice between an elevator, which has won awards (or so the plaque claims), or ramps along the sides. For the way up, Natalia and I decided to try our luck with the ramps. It wasn’t such a bad idea until we got to the spiral stairs that took us to the tippy-top, because then we were trying to go up and people were trying to come down and it was a mess there for a couple of minutes. I’d also like to mention that I’m a chicken and didn’t look down while we were going up. I’ll just steal that picture from Natalia’s camera at the end of the semester.

At the top, the view was amazing. In the old section of Prague, which is where the town square is located, a lot of the houses have the red tile roofs. I think had the day been sunnier, the view would have been even better, but as it was, you could see for miles and miles. I’m also pretty sure I didn’t look straight down from here either. Does that make me a wimp? I took a lot of pictures up in there, and I really hope some of them come out nicely.

The Prague Astronomical Clock or Prague Orloj (Czech: Pražský orloj, [praʒski: ɔrlɔi]) is a medieval astronomical clock located in Prague at 50°5′13.23″N, 14°25′15.30″E, the capital of the Czech Republic. The Orloj is mounted on the southern wall of Old Town City Hall in the Old Town Square and is a popular tourist attraction.

The Orloj is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; "The Walk of the Apostles", a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months.

The oldest part of the Orloj, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial, dates back to 1410 when it was made by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, the latter a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Charles University. The Prague Orloj was one of a number of complex astronomical clocks designed and constructed during the 14th and 15th centuries, soon after the invention of the mechanical clock. Other examples were built at Norwich, St Albans, Wells, Lund, Strasbourg, and Padua.

Later, presumably around 1490, the calendar dial was added and clock facade decorated with gothic sculptures.

In 1552 it was repaired by Jan Taborský, clockmaster of Orloj, who also wrote a report on the clock where he mentioned Hanuš as maker of the clock. This was a mistake, and was corrected during the 20th century.

The Orloj stopped working many times in the centuries after 1552, and was repaired many times. In the 17th century moving statues were added, and figures of the Apostles were added after major repair in 1865-1866.

The Orloj suffered heavy damage on May 7 and especially May 8, 1945, just hours before German capitulation in Prague was forced by the approaching Red Army, when Germans directed incendiary fire from several armored vehicles and an anti-aircraft gun to the south-west side of the Old Town Square in an effort to silence the provocative broadcasting initiated by the National Committee on May 5. The hall and nearby buildings burned along with the wooden sculptures on the Orloj and the calendar dial face made by Josef Mánes. The machinery was repaired and the Orloj started working again in 1948, but only after significant effort.

There exists a good deal of misinformation relating to the construction of the Orloj ^{[citation needed]}. For a long time it was believed that the Orloj was constructed in 1490 by clockmaster Jan Růže (also called Hanuš) and his assistant Jakub Čech. Another fictitious story involves the clockmaker Hanuš being blinded on the order of the Prague Councillors to prevent him from constructing another similar clock.

The astronomical dial is a form of mechanical astrolabe, a device used in medieval astronomy. Alternatively, one may consider the Orloj to be a primitive planetarium, displaying the current state of the universe.

The astronomical dial has a background that represents the standing Earth and sky, and surrounding it operate four main moving components: the zodiacal ring, an outer rotating ring, an icon representing the Sun, and an icon representing the Moon.

The background represents the Earth and the local view of the sky. The blue circle directly in the center represents the Earth, and the upper blue is the portion of the sky which is above the horizon. The red and black areas indicate portions of the sky below the horizon. During the daytime, the sun sits over the blue part of the background and at night it sits over the black. During dawn or dusk, the mechanical sun is positioned over the red part of the background.

Written on the eastern (left) part of the horizon is aurora (dawn in Latin) and ortus (rising). On the western (right) part is occasus (sunset), and crepusculum (twilight).

Golden Roman numbers at the outer edge of blue circle are the timescale of a normal 24 hour day and indicate time in local Prague time, or Central European Time. Curved golden lines dividing the blue part of dial into 12 parts are marks for unequal hours. These hours are defined as 1/12 of the time between sunrise and sunset, and vary as the days grow longer or shorter during the year.

Inside the large black outer circle lies another movable circle marked with the signs of the zodiac which indicates the location of the sun on the ecliptic. The signs are shown in anticlockwise order. In the photographs accompanying this article, the sun is currently in Aries, and will be moving anticlockwise into Taurus next.

The displacement of the zodiac circle results from the use of a stereographic projection of the ecliptic plane using the North pole as the basis of the projection. This is commonly seen in astronomical clocks of the period.

The small golden star shows the position of the vernal equinox, and sidereal time can be read on the scale with golden Roman numbers.

At the outer edge of the clock, golden Schwabacher numerals are set on a black background. These numbers indicate Old Czech Time (or Italian hours), measured starting with 1 at sunset. This ring moves during the year to coincide with the time of sunset.

The golden Sun moves around the zodiacal circle, thus showing its position on the ecliptic. The sun is attached to an arm with a golden hand, and together they show the time in three different ways:

1. The position of the golden hand over the Roman numerals on the background indicates the time in local Prague time.
2. The position of the sun over the curved golden lines indicates the time in unequal hours.
3. The position of the golden hand over the outer ring indicates the time in Old Czech Time.

Additionally, the distance of the Sun from the center of the dial shows the time of sunrise and sunset.

The movement of the Moon on the ecliptic is shown similarly to that of the Sun, although the speed is much faster. The half-silvered sphere of the moon also shows the Lunar phase.

The four figures flanking the clock are set in motion at the hour, with Death (represented by a skeleton) striking the time. On the hour there is a presentation of statues of the Apostles at the doorways above the clock, with all twelve presented at noon.

Natalia and I visited both churches on the square. Unfortunately, right now I don’t remember their names, but when I get the pictures on my computer, I have the names on there, and will google them to come up with some information for you. Suffice it to say that both were incredible. When Mom told me that all she saw were churches her first time here, I didn’t really believe her. She was right. Everything that happened artistically in Europe for centuries revolved around religion, and thus, the churches are incredibly ornate and just dazzling. They're called Tyn Cathedral and St. Nicholas Church.

The Church of Our Lady in front of Týn (in Czech Kostel Matky Boží před Týnem, Týnský chrám or just Týn) is a dominant feature of the Old Town district of Prague, and the main church of this part of the city since the 14th century. Towers of church are 80 m high and topped by four small spires.

In the 11th century this area was occupied by a romanesque church, which was replaced by an early gothic Church of Our Lady in front of Týn in 1256. Construction of present church started in the 14th century in late gothic style, under the influence of Matthias of Arras, and later Peter Parler. At the beginning of the 15th century, construction was almost done; only the towers, gable and roof were missing. The church was controlled by Hussites for some time, including John of Rokycan, future archbishop of Prague, who became the vicar of the church in 1427.

The roof was completed in the 1450s, while the gable and northern tower were completed shortly thereafter during the reign of George of Podebrady. His sculpture was placed on the gable, below a huge golden chalice, the symbol of the Hussites. The southern tower was not completed until 1511, under Matěj Rejsek. In 1626, after the Battle of the White Mountain, the sculptures of George of Podebrady and the chalice were removed, replaced by a sculpture of The Madonna, with aureole made from the chalice. In 1679 the church was damaged by fire caused by lightning, causing the heavily damaged old vault to be replaced by a lower baroque vault.

In 1876 - 1895 a reconstruction was carried out, which was reversed through a long exterior restoration that took place in the years 1973 - 1995. Afterwards interior restoration began, and is still in progress.

It was getting a bit late, and we had to be back on the bus at 2:50 to leave for Dresden. On the way back to the meeting point, we decided to stop and buy a postcard which some of our Czech money. I got a skyline of Prague. We were also a bit early, so we kept walking for a few hundred meters (how do you like that – I’m using metric system). The bathroom on the bus is absolutely ridiculous, and I just have a thing against paying for using the bathroom, so we stopped in at a restaurant on the river. I know you probably didn’t want to know that, but getting around Europe without paying for the bathroom takes some ingenuity.

Then, shock of all shocks, our bus was late leaving again. At least it wasn’t the same group of people that was late. The ride to Dresden was very similar to that of the earlier leg of the trip. There was a lot of fields, only one road, and we didn’t get lost this time either. However, the DVD player wasn’t working out too well. We tried watching Nemo, which worked out okay except for the really loud parts, where it would kind of freeze for a second, and jump to the next not quite so loud part. Since there was still time left after we were done with that movie, somebody up front popped in “Troy.” I’m glad I didn’t pay (or have somebody pay) good money for me to see that in theaters. The acting left a lot to be desired, and I don’t think Achilles was portrayed in the light you would expect. Usually, when I think of him, I imagine someone very noble to not fight under a country’s flag. Here, he was just arrogant. The subtitles were great too. Even though we changed the language to English, the sound was off, and we had subtitles. And they didn’t match anything that people were saying in the movie. For example, Achilles was written “a killees” for the subtitles. It was just that bad.

Crossing the border at Germany was much more interesting than crossing the Czech border. The border police came on the bus and collected everybody’s passports and “borrowed” them for a good long time. I think we sat there for at least half an hour, and since they only stamped them, I kind of wonder what took so long. I mean, these are Germans, its not like they take all day to do something like some other nationalities are known to do. Eventually we got them all back and kept on truckin’ (or bussin’ as the case may be).

When that movie kicked the bucket, before the good parts really began, we just kind of gave up on the whole movie idea. Besides, we were almost to Dresden. Finally. We pulled up to our hostel right around 6:30. Natalia, Anna, Laura and I had decided to room together while we were on the bus. There were only a few quads, and ours is on the fifth floor, which in Europe is actually the sixth because their first floor is called the ground floor, and the second floor is called the first. It’s kind of confusing the first few times people try to give you directions, but after a while it works out I guess.

We had enough time to get in the hostel and move into our rooms before dinner. Now dinner was one of my favorite times in the Mariazell hostel because we could pretty much count on something like schnitzel every night. Not so much in Dresden. We had pasta with sauce that contained pork cubes. Now don’t get me wrong, I like pork. After this stint in Europe, I’m sure I’ll like it a lot more. But I really just want something with a little bit of beef. I’ll have to talk to Sarah and see if she can make us some meat sauce for dinner one night. That would be amazing. The water here is different too. Apparently most cities in Europe don’t have their water piped in from the Alps. Go figure. You either have to buy bottled, or boil it and wait for it to cool. I’m assuming here they boil it and cool it, and then I think they add lemon juice to it because this water most definitely had some flavor to it. I’m not a fan. So based on first impressions alone, Vienna is still the best city in Europe, wouldn’t you agree?

After dinner there was a large group of us going out. We talked about going to a bar, but going somewhere with about twenty people just isn’t cool. Instead, we broke off into smaller groups. I went with Laura, Natalia, Dana, and Anna (not the one I’m living with in the hostel) to walk around the old part of the city. We saw a lot of things that were mentioned in our pre-departure lecture on Thursday including the Frauenkirche and the Parade of Princes, which is made out of porcelain. At some point in there, Dana and Anna went their own way, so the three of us wandered around for a bit. Now Dresden is very different from what I’m used to in Vienna. In my mind, it’s very cold and depressing. You don’t see a lot of people walking around, or even driving. It’s extremely quiet and what I would describe as eastern European. There’s a lot of grey and empty space. I see Vienna as always moving with lots of people and light, and even if it’s not as noisy as New York, it doesn’t sound like a ghost town. Now people tell me that I should give Dresden a break because it was in the eastern part of Germany, but Germany has been reunited for fifteen years, and it’s not like people weren’t living in Dresden way before that. Before I came to Europe, I heard that Vienna was a very eastern city, mostly because of its geographical location. But from what I’ve seen both in Prague and Dresden, Vienna is a very western city. It feels a lot warmer and more welcoming to me. So as far as I’m concerned, I’d live in Vienna at the drop of a hat, but it’d take a lot more to get me to live in Dresden.

After our stroll around the old part of the city, we went into a café and got some gelato and cappuccino. We were there for probably an hour and a half, just talking and laughing. I got a lemon gelato and Laura had one that was like chocolate chip. Natalia had something that looked like a chocolate Knödel, and was doused in rum on the inside. It was pretty good, but the rum definitely took us by surprise when we all tasted it. I really liked the lemon because it was very, very lemony. Our waitress was extremely nice, and spoke German with us after we told her that we had to practice ours. Consequently, she got a pretty decent tip.

On the way back to the hostel, I got a very nice surprise. Matt called me on my cell phone! Yay for really awesome boyfriends. We got to chat for about half an hour, mostly me telling him that he needed to eat lots of chicken noodle soup because he’s sick. He also made fun of me (just a little, though) because I sent him a groundhog’s day card and the groundhog I drew on the front looked kind of like a monkey/bear. What can I say? I was in a rush when I drew it! But it was really nice to hear from him.

Because we had coffee, sleep wasn’t an option quite yet, and we sat around talking about all sorts of random things. Around 12:30 we decided to hit the sack because we had to be up for breakfast at 8:30 on Sunday.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

I don’t think I’ll ever have coffee and gelato before bed again. I had all sorts of really weird dreams. I remember two of them – in one, I was playing basketball (what a nightmare) and I woke myself up because I was flailing about and bounced my arm off of the bed frame. Don’t worry, no bruises. In the other one, I think I was a secret agent or something. I don’t remember the details, but it was another really active dream. Now I’m not an active person when I’m awake, so I don’t appreciate these sorts of dreams. They’re not really my thing.

Breakfast consisted of rolls and coffee and an orange. There was also this sour cream cake-like thing, which was really good. We had to be on the bus for 8:30, and I think we all managed to be there by 8:35.

We had a whirlwind tour of Dresden on our “coach.” The tour started off with some statistics on Dresden, such as its population is almost exactly half a million people and it is over eight hundred years old. Our guide, Gerald, also spoke about how big Dresden is, just because it’s not all squeezed into one small area. It seems like there is a lot of space between buildings, which you don’t find as much of in Vienna. Dresden covers over one hundred square miles. That’s enormous!

Alright, the internet is driving me nuts right now. I keep getting kicked off and things are taking forever to load. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow morning if I'm up early enough before we have to meet. But I'll start my next post with the history and such of Dresden and continue from there.

Love you!
Amanda