9/16/23 For breakfast this morning Phil and I picked up some croissants, and breakfast pretzels from a local bakery. (Yes breakfast pretzels do exist, and they are referred to as bretzels.) We ate breakfast out on the balcony of Phil's apartment. White breakfast sausages I had had my first morning in Germany along with the croissants and bretzels. Phil suggested that I use the chocolate spread on the bretzel, and it was amazing. These particular pretzels did not have salt on them.
After breakfast we went to meet Phil and Anna's church friends from two nights before to go on a train ride through a park. Anna had gone to a Mosaic Art workshop so she wasn't around to hang out with us. The friend who was the occupational therapist had a client with Autism who volunteered to help run the train. At this park teenagers and tweens run the trains as if they were actual train station workers. Each kid had a different role to make sure the train ran smoothly. This was a miniature train like the one at the Milwaukee Zoo. The train started out with a steam engine, and halfway through they switched to a different engine. The train ride was relaxing and the park was really beautiful. It was even enjoyable for us adults, and actually lasted awhile. The train made the typical train sounds which Phil referred to as "train ASMR".
After the train ride we took the public transit to the arts district of Dresden. This is one of the most popular parts of Dresden, and has a lot of trendy restaurants and bars, along with art shops. For lunch we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant outside. At the bus stop there was a guy handing out information on Neo Nazism which was shocking. Apparently it's a growing thing in Germany which is terrifying. At the restaurant Phil needed to translate the menu with me since they didn't end up having an English menu (not that I was expecting them to have one), and bees must really like noodles. There was a bee that kept landing on my food and walking on it, it even flew off with a piece of noodle at one point??? For a drink I had "Mango lassi" which is a mango smoothie-like drink that's popular in India. It's made with mangos, yogurt, cardamom, and sweetener. I really enjoyed it. After lunch the church friends left, and Phil and I walked down the streets.
The Dresden Arts District is known as "Neustadt", and has an alleyway called "Kunsthof Passage". In the Kunsthof Passage there is a building with series of pipes with water trickling down. Phil said that people actually live in that building. It's a super cool art piece. Another thing I noticed about Neustadt is there is a lot of graffiti. Graffiti that you would find in a rougher area typically. However, Phil said that this was apart of the appeal with Neustadt.
After exploring Neustadt we took the public transit to the city center of Dresden in search of a souvenir mug, which we did end up finding. We took the public transit to a bridge that leads to the city center, and goes over the Elbe River, so I got yet again another amazing view of Dresden as we walked over the bridge. You could clearly see the historical buildings from this particular angle. After finding the souvenir mug it was time to get packed up to leave. I had originally wanted to stay in Dresden until early Sunday morning (9/17), but figured out early on (thankfully) that the bus or trains would not be running that early in the morning, so the best option for me would be to stay the night in Berlin. I booked a room that was within steps of the Berlin airport so I wouldn't have to figure out transportation to the airport from the hotel, and could take the bus directly to the airport. (I did not want to have to go through staying overnight at an airport again, although I would have to in Switzerland). Anna had returned by this time so we were all able to talk a bit before it was time to head to the bus station. My flight was at 7am the next morning.
I was a little afraid I would have a some trouble finding my hotel even with it being at the airport, but that wasn't an issue. I could see the hotel right from the bus stop when I arrived at the airport. I checked in to my hotel around 7pm. The front desk guy spoke English so it was an easy process. Knowing how to say "Do you speak English?" in German came in handy. Most of them do. The airport staff in Germany either explain the instructions in German or English, and would ask which you spoke. German hotel beds have one big bed with two separate mattresses along with two separate comforters. One for each person. The comforters were thin, but in Europe they have comforter (duvet covers), and I think you were meant to bring your cover to the hotel. Not 100% sure though. Another thing I noticed about the room that was different than an American hotel was the fact that there was a curtain by the bed where when opened you can look into the shower from where the bed is. I don't know how common this is to German hotels or my particular hotel was strange. I relaxed and reorganized my suitcase before sleeping for a couple hours. (Everyday I had to calculate what time I should wake up based on my phone being stuck on Wisconsin time. It was interesting, but I always figured it out even though it was very confusing.) This is also when the handle of my suitcase got stuck and would no longer pop up, and forced me to have to lean down and pull my suitcase or lift it. When you have to carry your suitcase, and or bend over for long periods it's exhausting/difficult which I experienced the next day when enroute to Manchester.
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