Dresden- A Blur

Notice blackened columns or blackened portions of stair case, part of the re-used burnt rubble.

Guest Blogger-Jody
      Greetings and our apologies for the delay of another blog entry. Also having problems with internet access, so hang on a few more days and we promise to upload many more pictures!!!!
      We have been in three cities in three days....pretty exhausted, I can honestly say our feet hurt!!!! Today, the anticipation of finally hooking up with our Hemer "brothers and sister" has definitely brought back the energy level.....but, first let me back up a day or so to get you caught up.....After leaving the spider web streets of Prague we enjoyed a two hour train ride to Dresden.  Tanner, Kortney, Zack, Camille, Dustin, and Mr. Bohneyto, stood much of the trip, not because we didn't have seats, but because the windows to the train could open, so we enjoyed the sights and transformations of the Czech Republic with a stiff breeze in our faces, the cool air felt great as it was warmer in Prague.  The Czech countryside was markedly different than the eminence city that we had just left. The train largely followed a fairly wide river, and Tanner and Jody noticed that no Czech's were on the river enjoying it....no fishing, no boating, no sailing.....Tanner couldn't believe no one was out wake boarding even with the ideal conditions we witnessed for so many miles. It was noticeable that we were not in Germany. The towns  and homes were either more run down as a rule or, out of nowhere, a multi-story box like apartment building would pop up, both were obviously from a communist influence.... Then rolling farms fields, alfalfa fields, wooded areas, similar to Germany, but then we would spot a big plant of some sort with multiple towers, even a nuclear power plant, one plant gave off an odor of marshmellows, or as Dustin said, "rice crispy treats"....
     Arrived in Dresden and had quite a trek to our hotel, kind of got lost, sort of, had to right ourselves a couple of times....but succeeded in finding our hotel, found the one restaurant in the area at 10:30pm, luckily it was open! Checked out of the hotel early in the morning, rolled all the way back to the train station, we figured out a more direct and shorter return route, thankfully.....locked our luggage in storage lockers for the day ( we are getting "pro" at trains, subways, and such by the way! becoming quite the world travelers) and set off to explore Dresden. We were amazed at the rebuilt state of the city, all of which was pretty much destroyed in the last two months of WWII by a three wave Allie bombing that ended with horrible phosphorous incendiary fire bombs....If you are not too familiar with this part of history, you should research it.....very interesting, but you will need a strong stomach! anyway, many of the rebuilt buildings had occassional black bricks used, which were recycled from the burned rubble.  Some the the salvaged precious decorative statues that adorned the buildings were blackened as well, giving further reminders of that dark day in history. Took in the rebuilt main Chapel, sculpture museum, classical period art museum, and Chris Bernard's favorite , a weapon's museum, in which Chris was deemed tour guide as he has better knowledge than all of us on the museum's contents, everything a knight could want.....One of the world's largest collections of suits of armor, swords, cross-bows, etc....Chris was in heaven!!!!! a cool trip to the top of a rebuilt tower (221 of spiraling staircase steps up, yes, Kortney and Tanner counted them) for an incredible full city vantage point had the camera's clicking as well. Really great ice cream from a street vendor fired up the blood sugar levels for our musical stroll back through the city ( Tricia, Trevor, Caroline, Camille, and Kortney singing, harmonizing, dancing, giggling and trying to remember lyrics as Chris, Tanner, Zack, and Dustin attempted to walk further ahead as fast as they could as to un-associate themselves from such an "embarrassing" ordeal) Fact be known, the strolling musicians did receive numerous grins, looks and nods from pleasantly entertained witnesses....and as Mr. Bohneyto mentioned, the group made it back to the train station in record timing as the pace matched the upbeat cadence of the songs.
     A hot train ride to Berlin, the windows did not open, unfortunately, arrived late again, hiked what seemed like half way across Berlin, but easily found our fantastic, luxury hotel (thank-you John Hasbrook!!!)  and basically collapse in bed, late again........had a fantastic history learning day complete with a wonderful bike tour, culminating with a much anticipated reunion with our Hemer friends, (which I got on video for all of you back home to witness) but, there is already so much to tell from our first day in Berlin, and I know tomorrow will add volumes to the blog, but you will have to wait, as it is again past midnight and tomorrow is another early day......we'll get back to you!!!!! (with pictures as well, as soon as we can)

Jody

PS. You're children are all so wonderful! what a great experience I am having, never a dull moment!!!!