Dresden and Prague

Well, I failed to stick to my normal blog schedule, so I’m writing this post while on a train (with some editing later). Last week I went to Dresden for the RISE conference and then to Prague for the remainder of the weekend. This was Rui’s last week in Lübeck before leaving for Paris to visit a friend before returning home. Somehow she managed to convince me to come with her for the weekend, so I’m writing this while on my way to Paris. Paris is the furthest I’ve travelled (quite far for a weekend trip by train), so this is my first trip on a CNL (city night line) train. The night line trains have rooms with “couchettes,” which are like triple bunk beds to sleep in, so hopefully I’ll get some sleep before arriving in Paris tomorrow morning.

Going back to last week, I woke up early Thursday morning to catch the train to Dresden with Rui and Amanda. After weeks of very mild weather, summer finally hit Germany, and the temperature was very hot. We took a crowded, uncomfortable EC train (EuroCity) train, which was continuing all the way to Budapest (I think the train was from Hungary), to Dresden. We had difficulty finding seats without reservations, but we eventually arrived in Dresden, and after giving up on trying to figure out Dresden’s poorly marked S-bahn trains we walked to the hostel. When we arrived we got to experience something glorious and unusual on this trip: free lunch! After weekends of travelling on a budget, I was grateful to have good German food offered for lunch, and I got to eat with many other RISE students. I saw other interns I previously met in Hamburg and Berlin, and met many other interns, while eating spätzle, served like macaroni and cheese.

After lunch, most interns stayed at the hostel and waited for the bus to the conference, but I chose to leave with a group of people who wanted to instead walk to the conference, and explore the city along the way.  All I really knew about Dresden before coming was that it was firebombed and destroyed in the war (and Kurt Vonnegut witnessed a fellow POW get shot for taking a teapot from the rubble). On the walk I saw many old buildings that had obviously been restored, and many still looked like they had been burnt. I learned later that some of the black stones I saw were not burnt, but rather turned black due to the minerals in the stones. Eventually we made our way to the opening ceremony of the conference, which wasn’t particularly interesting. The room was also quite hot, a common theme of the Dresden trip. This was by far the hottest weekend in Germany since I’ve arrived, and Dresden is much further south than Lübeck. After the opening ceremony, we had yet another free meal! The DAAD invited us to a nice Bavarian-style restaurant, where we had roasted pork (sliced right off the pig) and beer. Later in the evening, a group of us walked around trying to find a biergarten (I still have not been to one), but we unfortunately arrived just as it closed. We continued walking (further and further away from the hostel), but failed to find anywhere too interesting before realizing how tired we were. Most of us eventually turned back to catch some sleep before getting up early for the conference the next day.

The conference was not particularly interesting, and mostly consisted of presentations about graduate school programs in Germany for international students. After the conference we were given a walking tour of the city, which was more engaging. We saw many of the same sights as the day before, but were now given context and history to go with the sights. Dresden had a beautiful protestant church, which was unique for being more extravagant than the city’s Catholic church. Our tour guide shared quite a bit of Saxon history, and the tour was one of the most enjoyable parts of my Dresden trip.

After more free food (breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all included with the conference), many interns headed to a park by the river to relax and drink beer, before eventually finding a bar to watching the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. We found an Irish Pub, featuring an Irish man singing songs on guitar, which meant we had to watch the Olympics on mute, but it was still an enjoyable atmosphere (although imported Irish beer is more expensive than German beer). A lot of people were interested in going to a club afterwards, but the club we found had a dress code banning shorts, which everyone was wearing due to the heat in Dresden. I ended up meeting a couple other interns who decided to return to the Irish pub for another drink before returning to the hostel.

In the morning, I got up early again for free breakfast at the hostel. But as most people boarded the buses to the remainder of the conference (additional presentations and a group photo), Rui and I broke away from the pack and returned to the train station to catch a train to Prague. Unfortunately, the train ended up being the same crowded, hot, uncomfortable EC train that we took to Dresden in the first place. We also had to sit near crying babies, but at least we had a beautiful view of the Czech Republic from the window. After a couple hours we arrived in Prague! Prague is a beautiful city, and while Dresden was nice, Prague was the highlight of this trip.

After dropping our stuff off at our hostel, we ventured to the old town, which featured some of the most intriguing medieval architecture I’ve seen. There was some sort of folklore festival going on, and people from many countries were there with flags and costumes representing their culture. We saw churches more lavish and beautiful than the protestant church in Dresden. We found a restaurant for lunch, which was nicer than where we usually eat when travelling. We were spoiled with free food in Dresden, and felt like splurging a bit, but luckily Prague is a fairly inexpensive city. I had goulash and Pilsner Urquell, and we even split an ice cream sundae. We also fell for a trick I heard is common in Europe. Warm bread was put on the table, but it was not free like in the States, and we were charged for it on our bill. Regardless, it was a really good meal, one of the better ones I’ve had in Europe.

After lunch we made our way to Charles Bridge (everything in Prague is named after their most famous king, Charles), an old bridge lined with many statues, and offering spectacular views of the city and river. There were also great street performers on the bridge: a group playing music similar to New Orleans-style Jazz, and a duo performing with musician marionettes. After crossing the bridge, we hiked up to Prague Castle, which is really a complex of buildings from various centuries with various types of architecture. The castle is on a hill west of the main city, and offers an excellent view of Prague. The gothic St. Vitus Cathedral within the castle complex was very beautiful. There was a wedding at the cathedral (I see weddings everywhere I visit in Europe), and we saw the bride getting out of an old car, looking like an actress in an old film.

After returning downtown, we walked by the river, and eventually grabbed dinner at an Italian restaurant, and had pizza with salmon, an interesting topping I wouldn’t normally think of (but I suppose it’s not unlike putting lox on bagels). We eventually returned to our hostel, and while we originally thought we’d go back out and find a bar (there were other RISE interns we hoped to meet up with), we ended up going to bed pretty early due to exhaustion. In the morning we checked out of the hostel and returned to Old Town Square to catch a free (for tips) tour. The tour was given by a very enthusiastic local, who was eager to tell us about the city’s history. She explained the astronomical clock, a functional work of art, which includes a little puppet show every hour during daylight. We got there just in time to hear a bugle call from a trumpet player high up in the tower. We saw another church famous for displaying what is supposedly the 400 year old mummified hand of a thief who tried to steal jewels from the statue of the Virgin Mary. The sculpture supposedly grabbed the thief’s wrist, and would not let go until after the hand was amputated the next day.

The tour ended in Josefov, the small Jewish quarter of the city (and Franz Kafka's birthplace), with several old synagogues. The oldest is the Old New Synagogue, which is famous for the legend of the golem of Prague. According to the legend, Rabbi Loew constructed and brought life to a golem to protect the Jews of Prague from anti-Semitic attacks and pogroms. According to legend, the golem, which was likely an inspiration for stories like Frankenstein, is still stored in the attic of the synagogue. After the tour I returned to the synagogue to go in, but it was quite small and there was not much to see (other than admiring the fact that the building has survived for so many years despite facing years of antisemitism, including WWII, in Europe). The simplicity of the synagogue was a stark contrast compared to the grand extravagance of the Catholic churches we visited. We continued walking around the city, and grabbed Chinese food for lunch before departing Prague to return to Lübeck.

My pictures from Dresden are hosted here, and my pictures from Prague can be found here.

After returning to Lübeck, I realized that the guesthouse is in a constant state of transition with people constantly moving in and out. Of course my friend Akshay left the previous week, and my Russian friends also moved out while I was away. When I returned, I met the new girl living in Akshay’s room, and was surprised to find I was no longer the only American in the guesthouse. I think I am also now the youngest person living here. This week I also finally got to know my neighbor Mohammed and his friend Ahmed, who just moved into the guesthouse for the second time. They are both Egyptian medical doctors practicing in Lübeck. They are both Muslims observing Ramadan, and spend the late evenings (after sunset) in the kitchen feasting and relaxing. Northern Germany is a difficult place to observe Ramadan because of the long summer days (Muslims do not eat while the sun is up during Ramadan), but my Egyptian friends are very friendly and it was nice joining them for post-sunset fruit and tea. Ahmed brought Egyptian tea and mint, grown in his grandmother’s garden, and is eager to share with everybody. While I feel like I’m not meeting too many German people here in Germany, I think it’s great meeting so many international people in the guesthouse.

Now I’ll try to sleep on this train, and tomorrow morning I’ll wake up in Paris! Next weekend I’ll be taking yet another long train to Munich, and then I’ll only have a couple days left in Germany before returning to the States.