(Sunday, Sept. 6, Dresden) The two hour train ride from Prague to Dresden followed the scenic course of the Vitava River (which eventually merges with the Elbe on its way to the North Sea). We sat across from Kate, a young Australian who had spent two months traveling around Europe, and her mother, Liz, who had recently joined up with her. Liz’s twin sons sat in the seat behind her, pretty wasted after a stag party in Prague the night before held for a friend who was to be married in Dublin, Ireland.
We arrived in Dresden about one in the afternoon, checked into our rented apartment, and then grabbed a quick “Hot Dog” (bratwurst on a bun), then ambled over to the Altmarkt Square where a “flea market” of sorts was going on. Little “log cabins” (mini-chalets of sorts) housed vendors of food and beer, wafflen (tasty waffles filled with whipped cream or fruit condiments), clothing, purses, and a variety of craft items. A couple of musicians picking guitars sang American Country and Western or other “pop” music standards, like “Sitzen on Zee Dock of Zee Bay”. Two young women running the “Max Und Mortiz Anglen (for) Bretzels” stand (kids used a fishing pole to drop a line down the chimney of a little house and “catch” a pretzel) mugged for travel photographer Dick.
We ended our first evening in Dresden dining in an Italian on the platz dominated by the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), heavily damaged by Allied bombers in February, 1945, but now restored to beauty and open to the public. One of the waiters sang old Italian-American tunes just like the Bay Area band, “Bella Ciao”, which our friends Mary Keydash and Jim Cahill have played in.
