Dresden, meine liebe!

Dresden is so far my favorite city, besides Friedrichshafen, of course! :p

I arrived about four in the afternoon, tired and just wanting to get settled in at the hostel, and then maybe go out for some supper. The walk to the hostel was torture. I felt like I would never get there, and of course, I got lost. I finally got there, ready to tell that guy at the front desk not to tell people online that the hostel is easily walkable from the train station, but he was so nice and it was so cozy inside, that I immediately forgot about the horrible walk in the cold with my heavy backpack.

Of course, there was no elevator, and I was on the top floor, as usual. I got to my room to find another girl already in there making her bed. At hostels, you will either meet the kind of people who will say hello, ask where you're from and how long you're staying, and then you won't talk to them ever again, or you will meet the people who will ask those questions, and then want to hang out and explore with you, or have deep conversations in the common area. This girl wanted to explore. She pretty much insisted I make my bed, and then leave with her. She was Brazilian, a nanny in Berlin, and really nice. So, I pretty much just put my stuff down, made my bed, and we left. It was actually really nice to have a little exploration partner for a bit. I say that I love traveling alone, and I do, but it is nice to have someone to take pictures of you, and share the beautiful buildings with. We talked about tons of things, from culture, to nannying, to coming to Germany not knowing German. She was really cool. We were out and about until after the sun went down and the temperature dropped to really super cold. We started walking back, stopped at a supermarket, and then went to the hostel to cook our frozen pizzas.

At the hostel, we met more cool people. The hostel was really cozy and warm, and there was really great music playing. There were little nooks all over the place to sit. It was wonderful. So, a group of us, a Brazilian, a Chinese guy, an Australian, a too old to be in a hostel Spanish guy, an Austrian, and me, the American, sat in the kitchen for hours talking about all kinds of things. It was really fun. Soon enough, everyone had either left for the bars, or gone to bed, so I was alone in a little nook with Skype. It was really nice.
The next day, I set out to see all the things I had looked at yesterday in the dark. It was Sunday, so I wasn't able to get into most of the churches, which was disappointing, but I took lots of pictures of the outsides. I started with Martin Luther church, because it was the closest, and moved on to the old town, which was where the opera house and the Frauenkirche were. Everything was so beautiful in Dresden. Everywhere I go, everything is beautiful, but something about Dresden really made me fall in love.
I was able to go inside the Frauenkirche, and around the opera house. I am pretty sure I saw everything there was to see in Dresden, except the zoo. That just means I have to go back one day. :)
The third day, I walked back to Martin Luther church in the morning, hoping to get in, but it was too early. I walked on to another church, and then through some woods. The ride back to Friedrichshafen was supposed to be about eight hours, so I didn't want to hang out too long. Anyway, it ended up being about 12 hours, so I got home really very late, and skipped class the next day.

I'm not sure where I will go next, but it will have to work pretty hard to beat Dresden.

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Pictures from Dresden:

Dresden Pictures