Leipzig!

On Monday the 7th, our group left Dresden at 9 AM and left for Leipzig, a city in Saxony.  We did a walking tour of the main area of the city, on which we saw many sites that are crucial to Leipzig's history.  After the tour, we went to lunch on top of the tallest building in Leipzig, the City-Hochhaus Leipzig, and then had an hour to explore the city on our own before departing for Berlin!

Here are some photos from Leipzig!

Völkerschlachtdenkmal... a memorial to the Germans lost in the Napoleonic Wars.
Fun fact: this is the largest memorial in Europe!

Thomaskirche..  Bach worked here for over 20 years as a cantor.

Chilling with Bach for a minute.

Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum, or The Arabian Coffee Tree,
is the oldest coffee house in Leipzig, and one of the oldest in Germany.

Leipzig's city animal is the lion... There are painted lion statues all over the city!
Bailey and I pose with our new friend!

Altes Rathaus (Old City Hall) was built in the mid 16th century and only suffered minor damage in WWII.

This is a statue of Goethe in front of the old stock exchange building... The entire inside of the building was destroyed by a fire in the 70s, so the inside looks like an episode of the Brady Bunch.

Only in Germany would you find this.

City-Hochhaus Leipzig

Oper Leipzig

We ordered grilled cheese at the restaurant, expecting... ya know, a grilled cheese sandwhich.  We were very surprised when we got actual grilled cheese...

Neues Rathaus (New City Hall)

That's all for now! I'll try to post about the rest of my trip (Berlin and one last stop in Prague) in the next couple of days!

Dresden!

Part 2 of the 9-day trip. We arrived in Dresden at night time on Saturday, so we didn't get to see much of anything.  We stayed in the Mezcalero Hostel, a little piece of Mexico in the heart of Dresden.  I roomed with my friends Bailey, Michelle, Allison, and Mindy in a little hacienda Azteca.  Since we had had such a long day of traveling we decided to stay in and get a good night's sleep for our only day in Dresden.

We awoke to a glorious breakfast of crepes, meats, cheeses, cereal, etc.  It was DELICIOUS! We boarded our wonderful Fuchs bus for a guided bus tour of Dresden.  Our tour guide, Girald, was AMAZING.  He has lived in Dresden his entire life and was so proud of his little city and all its history, which there is A LOT of! Dresden, in case you didn't know, was the city that suffered the most damage from WWII in Germany. The bus tour took us all over Dresden, and we saw some truly incredible sights that are off the beaten path from the typical tourist destinations of Dresden.  Here are some of the many photos I took on the bus tour!

Before I get to the really pretty photos, I needed to show this.  The inventor of mouthwash
(I think... something to do with oral hygiene) lived in Dresden,
and he created this hygiene museum to teach people about the importance of hygiene.

This is one of the only sites in Dresden that has been left in the same condition it was in right after WWII.

The entire roof of this Church was totally destroyed during WWII.

Girald

Being a statue in one of Dresden's many parks

In front of part of the Schloss Pillnitz - the palace was built with a Chinese architectural influence

Fürstenzug, or Procession of the Princes, is an enormous mural painted on over 25,000 pieces of tile. 

The mural depicts 35 kings and dukes of Saxony.

Frauenkirche, "Church of Our Lady" auf Deutsch, was built in the mid-18th century and destroyed by WWII.  It was rebuilt and completed in 2005.

The dark part of the Church is the only part that stood after WWII.  When they rebuilt the Church, they used as many tiles from the old building as they could.  Also, the Church should be entirely dark (due to oxidation) in about 50 years, so hurry and go see it!!

The inside of the Frauenkirche

The altar.

The Zwinger, a former palace and current museum of art.
Girald also gave us a tour of the museum, where we saw gorgeous paintings, including the Sistine Madonna (google it - you'll know what I'm talking about).

Semperoper (the Dresden Opera)

Our golden chariot, the Fuchs Bus.

Later on Sunday we watched the Superbowl! I only stayed until halftime because it was sooo late, but I had a lot of fun cheering for the Packers and the Steelers.  The next morning we loaded up the Fuchs Bus and headed to Leipzig for about 5 hours... I will write about this leg of the journey as soon as I can.

Until then, Auf Wiedersehen!

Breakfast in Vienna, Lunch in Prague, Dinner in Dresden... is this real life?!

Well finally, the moment you've all been waiting for! Here is the first of a few posts about my 9-day German adventure!

Saturday the 5^th I got up bright and early to leave for Germany! I actually overslept and made it to the bus with about 20 seconds to spare… nothing ever really changes I guess.  We left from in front of the Kunsthistoriches Museum on the Ringstraße at 8:00 AM.  Surprisingly, all 40 of the students got there before 8:15, which is probably a record for IES.

After about 2 hours of driving, we stopped at a rest stop on the Czech-Austrian border.  It reminded me a lot of Downtown Disney, but a medieval edition (if you understand this I applaud you).  There were dragons literally spewing smoke, wizards that lit up, and a ton of great deals on food.  My friend Ben and I bought approximately 8000 packs of travel-sized Haribo gummy bears, which are made in Germany, and ate them all on the trip.  The bus ride was filled with lots of sleeping until Helmut, the IES housing coordinator and travel agent AND Frau Summesberger’s son, had us watch a movie.  We watched Toy Story 3, so obviously no one slept.  You wouldn't believe the excitement and enthusiasm on that bus, all because of Toy Story 3.

This "fried cake" costs a little
 more than a euro...

We got to Prague around noon.  I walked with some friends to grab some lunch in a café-type place.  Pretty much everywhere in Prague accepts euros, so I didn't convert any money into Czech Crowns.  Its a little daunting when being in a place with such a weird exchange rate (1 euro = about 22 crowns).  Also, the language in the Czech Republic is SO foreign... I can't believe I ever thought German was strange looking. 

 After lunch we had about two and half hours to explore the city.  I walked with my friends Michelle and Ben down the river that runs through Prague, the Vltaba River, until we reached the Charles Bridge, one of the most famous sights in Prague.  The Charles Bridge was built in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, and was used to connect Prague Castle with the Old Town.  It is a beautiful structure, and a lot of fun to stroll along.  There are vendors, bands, and artists along the whole length of the bridge, and it reminded me of what I think New Orleans is probably like (awful comparison but hopefully you get the idea).  My friends Michele and Ben and I had a great time taking in all the views of Prague and taking tons of photos and videos along the bridge.  All along the bridge are various statues of saints and martyrs, and touching some of them are said to bring good luck.  We walked back to the bus leisurely, and continued are long journey to Dresden.

Enjoy the photos! It's hard deciding which ones to post because I literally took over 1000 photos.

Dinoland again...

The early morning feast!

Prague Castle (the world's largest castle complex) and St. Vitus' Cathedral
can be seen on top of the hill, with the Prague National Museum in front.

A statue in front of the Prague State Opera

The Prague State Opera

Getting a little bit artsy.

The Old Town Bridge Tower and beginning of the Charles Bridge

A statue along the Charles Bridge

Here I am in Prague!

This is in the center of the Bridge

The Bridge Band... I'm pretty sure this is the only reason why the bridge reminded me of New Orleans

Prague Castle and St. Vitus' Cathedral as seen from the bridge

This is one of the more famous statues along the bridge... St. John of Nepomuk.  He was thrown off the bridge in the 14th century, and the statue commemorating his life is the oldest on the bridge.  The lower squares of the statue are scenes from his life, and on each there are gold spots on which people have consistently placed their hands.

Word on the street is if you put your hand on the gold spots, you will return to Prague

Here I am at the end of the bridge! It took us about an hour to get across because we were looking at EVERYTHING.  There are vendors, street artists, street performers, etc. all along the bridge.

If you have any ideas as to what this sign could mean, please feel free to send me them.

World War II memorial in Prague