On Monday (6th July) we left Berlin for Dresden! Before leaving Berlin our bus made a quick stop at the East side gallery so we could see the art on the East side of the Berlin Wall. We had already seen some of it, but it was nice to see more!
The bus trip was the shortest we have had for a while which was really nice! I was so excited to get to Dresden, as I would be seeing my friend Marie! We arrived at the drop off location, got off the bus, and there she was! It was so amazing to see her again.
We headed back to her home and were treated to a delicious lunch. Marie had a driving lesson that afternoon, so she had to leave us for a few hours. We just got settled in and relaxed until she got home, which was nice. We had been so busy in Berlin, we hadn't really had a chance to just stop and relax. When Marie got home she told us we were going to bike to the supermarket to buy some things. Whoever said that you never forget how to ride a bike obviously had never not ridden for 8 or so years and then tried to ride again. It was a difficult, scary and painful experience trying to relearn how to ride a bike after not riding one for so long. Marie was incredibly patient with me, and very encouraging. After a few false starts, I finally managed to get on the bike, and stay on. And then I realised we had to ride on the road, which is something I have never done before. That was absolutely terrifying. I think I gripped the handle bars so hard my fingers went numb. However, I made it to the supermarket, with only one incident of not being able to stop and riding into a parked car. But it was okay! The biking wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, especially since the cars and people on the roads are so courteous to bike riders. We got everything we needed from the first shop and then rode off to the next one. On the way there, the second incident occurred, when once again I couldn't stop properly and dropped the bike in the middle of a crossing island. But once again, it was okay I didn't get hurt. We got what we needed from this shop, and made it home with no more incidents! Once at home we hung out for a while, catching up on two and a half lost years. We had a delicious dinner of cheeses, meats, these awesome corn cake things, fruit and veggies. It was so good.
After dinner, I braved the bike again and Marie took us to a gorgeous park. On the way there I crashed into another parked car, and this time actually did do some damage, but not too much. I came away with two grazed knees, a grazed calf and an epic bruise that just keeps getting darker.
It could have been worse, so I was lucky in that sense. However, it was the last proper biking accident I had for the rest of the time in Dresden! Anyway as I mentioned before, this park was absolutely beautiful. It was covered with rich, lush forest, and was incredibly well manicured. In a large clearing of the forest there was an old summer house, with a huge pond in front of it and beautiful gardens filled with flowers. At one point we stopped in the gardens to take some photos, and were attacked by these huge flying bugs. So that wasn't too great!
We rode around the park for a while, and then stopped to get an ice cream at this really cute beer garden. It was outside and had fold out chairs you could sit in, and it was covered in fairly lights and lanterns and had flickering fire torches. It was lovely! And the weather was beautiful too. Once we were done eating ice cream and chatting, we rode our bikes back home.
Marie had to go to school the next day, so we had the morning/afternoon to ourselves. It was ridiculously hot. The type of hot that is just completely uncomfortable and draining. We had a late morning, eating breakfast, laying around, putting off going outside. When we finally did brave the heat, we headed off in the direction of the park we had been to the previous night. Since we had just been following Marie the night before, we didn't really know where we were going. We conveniently stumbled across a kebab shop around lunch time, and decided to give the kebabs we had heard so much about another go. And we were not disappointed! They were absolutely delicious! And massive!
Super good value for money. We were really happy! When we had finished our delicious lunch, we continued on our way to the park. We finally made it there! We entered the park from a different spot to the previous night, and instead of walking on the big main path we made our way through the forest. It was really lovely. It provided a nice break from the sun, and was a beautiful walk.
That night for dinner we had blueberry soup and dumplings. It was really interesting! Basically the soup is canned blueberries in sauce thickened with cornflour, and the dumplings are made from a dough and then boiled. It was something neither Harrison or I had ever experienced before, and it was pretty good! Harrison really liked it. After dinner we rode our bikes to Marie's school, where they were having a play night that some of her friends were performing in. All of the plays were in German, so we didn't really get everything that was going on. But it was fun to try as figure out the story from just their tones and movements. It was an interesting experience!
The next day was thankfully a lot cooler. Marie had to go to school again in the morning, but only had a few classes so we were able to meet up with her at 12:30. We took the tram to downtown Dresden and Marie showed us around a big shopping centre, and the main tourist attractions of Dresden. She had to leave to go to a driving lesson, but we stayed downtown to look around more. We went into some really beautiful gardens, and saw some incredible old architecture.
We went into a famous old church, which was just amazing.
The inside was so different to all of the other churches we have been into, it was all pastel and gold colours, with so many levels of seating.
Marie's choir was having a BBQ and awards night that evening, so once we were all home we headed off to that. We got to see Marie sing in her choir which was really nice! They were great! We met a few of her friends which was also nice. It was a lovely warm evening and we had a picnic bbq dinner outside on the grass, it was lovely. Once we were done with the choir dinner we briefly headed home before going out again. Marie was taking us to one of her friends birthday parties! It was pretty cool to experience a German party and meet even more of Marie's friends. We got home at around 2:30am.
Marie had to be up bright and early the next day to sit her drivers test. She passed!! We were really proud. All of us were pretty exhausted from the previous night so we just lounged around at Marie's house for most of the day. We went to the shops at some point to get some things Marie and I needed, but other than that it was a relaxed day. Marie has the most adorable tortoise called Hugo! Harrison and I absolutely fell in love with him, so a lot of our free time was spent with Hugo.
That night Marie's school was having an end of year party, as the next day was the last day of their school year. It was really cool. All the teachers and students get together on the school grounds and eat food, sit by a fire, listen to music, play games and just hang out and celebrate the end of the year.
I thought it was a great thing for a school to do. We stayed at the school party until it was over, and then rode our bikes into the city. We were celebrating Marie passing her drivers test and finishing this year of school, so we went to two bars and had a few drinks. The ride into town was absolutely beautiful, as the sun was setting. We rode over a bridge and got an amazing view of Dresden with the sunset in the background.
The second bar we went to was a hippie karaoke bar. It was interesting to say the least! Definitely an experience. Once we were done, we rode our bikes home for the last time. It was a bittersweet moment for me. I was pretty much terrified the whole time we had been riding the bikes, but I was also starting to get fairly good and actually enjoy myself. Since we were riding home at like 2am there was no one else on the road, so it was far less scary and made the experience really fun.
Our bus the next day was coming at 11:30am, and Marie had to be at school for her last day at 10:30. So we had to say goodbye at her house before she left, which was sad.
It had been so nice to see Marie again after so long, and it had felt like the time just flew by. I really didn't want to leave. It was a really lovely few days, and I really hope that I will be able to see Marie again soon.
The bus ride to Prague was only about 2 and a half hours long, so not too bad. We arrived around 2, and were absolutely starving so we had lunch at the hostel. We were pretty worn out from the previous night, so we spent the rest of the day at the hostel bar, and just hanging out at the hostel. We went out in search of dinner, and came across this little Asian restaurant, where we got two huge noodle and meat dishes, 6 pieces of sushi and four drinks for €16 ($24). It was amazing! Prague has a different currency to the rest of Europe, and everything is very cheap for us. Our meal cost 300 czk, which is equal to €16. So it's pretty scary when you first glance at the bill and see such a huge number! But once you work it out you feel much better.
Today we went on one of our much loved walking tours around the city. Our tour guide was a local, who experienced communism and it's fall in the Czech Republic first hand. It was so interesting to hear her stories, and have her share the history of her country with us. You could really tell she was passionate about it. Once the tour was over we went in search of lunch, and wander around the town on our own. The old town part of Prague is really beautiful.
All of the old buildings, narrow alleyways and cobbled streets are an incredibly thing to see. I'm really loving it! We spent almost 2 hours wandering around the streets, before picking somewhere to eat. Before we found our lunch spot, we came across these bakeries selling spiral dough things. I have no idea what they are, but they wrap dough around a large stick, cover it in cinnamon sugar and then roast it.
You can have them plain, or filled with Nutella. So of course I got one filled with Nutella, and it was delicious! For lunch we finally settled on a Czech bar. I had gnocchi with sheep's cheese and Harrison had roast duck with two different types of dumplings. He also tried a Czech beer!
It was a really amazing meal! And also ridiculously cheap. It's so great! After lunch (that was really more like dinner, since we finished up at 5) we caught the tram back to the hostel. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of Prague castle, which should be really interesting! I really enjoyed exploring old and new town Prague today!
The atmosphere is so vibrant and fun! There is so much to see, hear and smell! There were people playing music in the streets, and selling food and other goods, and street performers, all together amongst the beautiful buildings. It was really amazing.
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