Dresden's Bathtub: a review

So as I mentioned in my last entry, this weekend Colby and I conquered the immense task of finding a bathtub.  Since this journey also included getting to visit a beautiful city that was bombed to pieces (hope that's the right one Maia :) ) in the last bit of WWII in February of 1945, we were pretty excited! Friday was a quiet day at home in preparation for my first trip while abroad!!! However, this quiet day turned out to provide some pretty great accomplishments! First, I made a trip to Kaufland (a new one) where I finally found nail polish and nail polish remover!!! HUGE!!! If I didn't find some soon, it would be a close-toed shoes summer for me! Secondly, I had a Skype interview for the position of director for RebelTHON next year! And.... I am officially the co-director for next year!!!! I am soooo excited to get started working on this!!!! After a quiet evening, I went to sleep looking forward to the adventures that Saturday would bring!!!

Saturday started at around 6... I took a shower and headed to the train station at Park Sansoussi...But before I checked my bag to make sure I was not forgetting the most important things: Ibuprofen and the BATH SALTS (or whatever the medicine I was prescribed is called).  The walk to the station was amazing! The weather has been perfect (a little cool, but not too cold) and the birds were out chirping around.

Walk to the station

From the station I took a train that took me directly to the main station in Berlin (only took 35 minutes!). There, I bought a chocolate Croissant and a coffee for Colby and I.  Two minutes later, he met me and we found the train that would take us to Dresden.  We found tickets for this train by searching on a website called ltour.com that provides cheap prices for last minute trips!!! Because of the price we found, we were able to take the EC train, which is waaaaay quicker and goes straight to Dresden.  The crowd was primarily Czech and included a large group of 35ish year old men who were having a bachelor party. VERY entertaining! After about 2 hours, which involved talking, sleeping, and minimal reading for class, we arrived in Dresden.

First impression: grey.
Second impression: more cobble stones.

I am a firm believer that weather can make or break ones experiences in a new city.  I remember introducing my friends Drew and Courtney to the neighborhood in Montevideo where I grew up, and all I remember saying was "y'all.... you would love it so much more if it wasn't so cloudy and ugly!!!!" In the case of Dresden, I quickly started worrying that this would also be our case!!!

After walking for about 30 or 45 minutes through the old part of the city, we decided to see if our hotel would let us check in early.  The grey, the cobblestones, and the hunger were not giving us a good first impression... so we thought depositing our bags and recharging at the hotel might do the trick!!! Our hotel was located in the middle of the historic section of the city.  Legitimately 30 steps away from the Frauenkirche, the church that was bombed to pieces in 1945.  This entire area is a block from the Elbe river and all of the museums, exhibits, theaters, and opera houses.

That's our hotel with the red roof... Don't be fooled by the blue skies... this was Sunday

Once at the hotel, we did not have any trouble checking in! 

View of "the busy street" from our room

View of the Frauenkirche from our room

The first thing we did when going into the room...  CHECKED THE BATHROOM!!!!! Thank goodness!!! There was a bathtub!!!

The reason for our weekend trip!

I really thought I would turn into Elpheba

 So before doing anything else, I tested my new medicine, took the 30 minute bath, and rested with my foot raised for the assigned 30-45 minutes.  Y'all... the medicine was green!!! Soooooo green that my towel and everything else got stained... Too funny.  

Foot bathed!

By the time I was done... the hunger was unavoidable! We quickly looked through the restaurants on the busy street (just 2 blocks) and settled for an Asian restaurant that looked over the street.  There, we were serenaded by a man that was playing below us... what was he playing??? But Johnny Cash of course!!! What was he wearing on his hat?? A confederate flag! Hilarious and definitely German. People loved him and crowds would form during every song as people stared in admiration, awkwardly bopped to the beat, and even sang along.   The next thing we enjoyed admiring were the birds... maybe we didn't admire them... maybe they just annoyed us... It is soooo clear that they are constantly fed, because they legitimately we coming up to our plate trying to get food!!!!!!

You can see the man playing on the bottom left corner! 

Asian... Again

Colby and his bird... 

After lunch we continued to walk the grey city.... We started by crossing the bridge and the Elbe towards the newer part of the city.  We figured that would be an easy way to walk all of the "touristy" spots.  We found some flowers and cool buildings on the other side, but we both agreed that the grey was prettier of the other side of the Elbe.  After discovering a really cool market type deal.... we headed back across the river.  

Cool market

We spent our afternoon walking along the river and walking through the historical buildings that surrounded us on every corner.  It is really a gorgeous city!!!! 

After many miles, we headed towards the theater to see if there were still tickets for the Philharmonic's concert that evening.  Sadly the ticket office was closed until 6:30... the concert started at 7:30... Therefore, we decided to sit down at a nearby Starbucks and use its wifi to find an alternate way to buy tickets.  We didn't find it, but we did enjoy a great cup of coffee and a lot of funny "snap chat" conversations with people back home.  A little before 6:30, we headed towards the theater.  As we started seeing people come, we began to panic... Are we wayyyyy too underdressed???? People were showing up in suits and floor length dresses. Yikes!! Should we even try?? In my mind I could hear my mom saying "don't worry, it is a city of tourists, there will be people wearing all sorts of clothes!!"  So we decided to give it a shot! Our plan if we got tickets was to rush to the supermarket get wine, cheese, and olives to eat by the river after the concert and to run to the dorm to try to come up with something dressier to wear!!!!! 

There were tickets!!! They were in the back row, but they were tickets!!!!! Yaaaayyy!!! So we rushed to REWE to get the food... got to the check out line and realized it was toooo long! We wouldn't make it!!!! So we had to put everything down and run back to the hotel (not really run... remember, there are cobble stones and my foot would have hated me!!!) Once at the hotel I made a switch into my less tacky converses and tried to fix my outfit with some make up... Colby, as usual, was a little more prepared and looked more philharmonic ready.  Fifteen minutes later we were two different people hurrying back to the theater.   

And then we saw it.... the crowd.... the average age was 65 or higher... there were suits, there were floor length dresses, and for those who were playing it casual.... they left their suit coats at home (but ties were seen throughout).  YIKES!!! We were really underdressed, but that is exactly the time when a back row seat seems perfect!!!  

I was sooo excited to hear the orchestra! Going to concerts always reminds me of my childhood, when we frequently went to watch my mom and/or dad play with the national symphony in Uruguay. I love it!!! 

Very excited for the concert!!! 

And this was one of the most incredible things i've ever heard!!!! 

The program included: 

Richard Wagner's: the prelude to "Das Rheingold"

Bernd Franke's: The way down in the way up (II)

Peter Tschaikowsky's Symphony 4 in F Minor op. 36

The Tschaikowsky was unbelievable.  I didn't realize I knew it, but as soon as each movement started I recognized the melodies immediately.  I couldn't take my eyes off of the oboe player!  I am NOT a big oboe fan, but this woman could play like I've never heard before!!! Clearly the director thought the same thing, because at the end he gave her his flowers! It is unreal watching all of these people soooo together! The speed, the dynamics, the sound, the emotion.. I  just can't explain it!  I teared up, I got goose pumps, and I smiled A LOT. I find watching this like this sooo incredible.  When you watch a performance whether it be theater, orchestra, dance, or whatever.... you know that everyone on this stage LOVES what they are doing.  Who would choose to go into a profession that is soooo hard to succeed in if you don't love it! Even natural talent doesn't justify the hours of practice.... so watching this group really gave me chills! 

Here is a link to the Tschaikowsky (not played by the Dresden Philharmonic, but still) to share the incredibleness! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhoYauWJh54

After recomposing myself after the amazingness, we realized that everything was closed... We hadn't been able to buy our snacks earlier... So we had to resort to McDonalds... legitimately the only thing other than bars that was open.  With our junk food in hand, we walked to the banks of the Elbe and had dinner.  It was lovely so we also walked a bit before turning in for the night (and for a bath!).

The Elbe

 We decided to sleep in a bit on Sunday, but got up in time to walk some more! The clouds had cleared up some, so it was nice to enjoy the city without the grey!!! It really set in how incredible it really is!!! We had an amazing lunch by the Frauenkirche and then waited for it to open at 13:00.  

  

The inside was incredible!!!! So many colors, such grandeur!!! Absolutely beautiful!

Frauenkirche

After our visit, we headed back to the main station to take a train back. Since our website didn't have cheap tickets, we bought a Schönewochenende ticket that allows up to 5 people to travel on weekends without limit for 27 hours using the regional trains. Using the regional trips added about 1.5 hours to our trip!!!! 

 BUT!!!!!! It also let us enjoy a lot of different landscapes and it forced me to read for class! 

 At around 6 o'clock I arrived to my apartment in Potsdam! Thanks to the baths/ibuprofen my foot felt great!! So I went out for a run (the longest one since I've been here!) and did an arm workout! By the end of the day I was beat!!!!