Reading (For Dummies)

Meandering through Dresden II

(23:57:28) AtariPete: reid, I gotta tell you. your updates have been real quality

Cool. Glad to hear some people enjoy my bitching :).

Today I wandered around Dresden some more. I bought an acoustic guitar...just a 6-string Ibanez a lot like my old one, but this one has a pickup built-in.

After hitting the guitar store, and going to the Istanbul Teller stand to get a sandwhich from my friend (er, I guess he's a friend mostly cuz I tip him so much, but ohwell), Sali (yes, I remember his name now!), I dropped my giiitar off back at the ranch, went out and bought myself some new used clothes, then went back to the carnival.

The brat pits picture I promised

The carnival place was still jumping. Even at 10 in the morning there were people there drinking their beer. Something interesting that I probably didn't mention before -- beer goes with breakfast here (no joking).

As I mentioned, I wanted to go to the Symphony, so I started wandering across the river. I walked about 25 kilometers total today, walking up and down the Elbe, across, and back. In the central section of town near all the historic buildings was, once again, the horn section of the symphony...

Some young'ins in this group, eh?

Also went by the Frauenkirche to see its reconstruction progress since last week.

Like watching corn grow in January

Granted massive stone buildings like this thing take forever to build. It took about 40 years to build the first time. Then February 13th, 1945 happened. So it goes.

Apparently there is some controversy over the rebuilding of the church and even the acceptance of the famous gold cross back from Great Britain.

Well, after wandering long enough, having a liter of the above mentioned beer (much better than the reviews give it credit for, though I had it unpasteurized, on tap), I wandered to the Kulturpalast to get my concert ticket. Unfortunately, the woman at the ticket counter didn't understand me when I said "Ein ticket, bitte." She just looked at me like I had 12 heads, and kept saying nein, even though I obviously had enough money. People behind me in line just walked right up and bought their tickets. I was dressed better than most of them, too...so I am not sure what the deal is. Very frustrating experience, as I stood there for a good 10 minutes before a very large German gentleman came up to me and, I'm guessing, asked me to leave.

I am going to try and go to the concert again tomorrow...all I want is a little Rachmaninov...is that so much to ask?

Wandering back through a different carnival, there was a beer stand with a rather funny sign.

Hopefully that's not what the beer tastes like

Lesson I've been learning? Police are nowhere. I'm told by locals that there is no such thing as violent crime here. Sure, people's cars get broken into every once in a while, bicycles get stolen, sometimes even cars get stolen. About once or twice a year somebody tries armed robbery, usually with a knife or no weapon at all. Guns are extremely hard to get...hunting rifles require about a year of classes and several thousand euros to get a license for; hand guns are even more difficult to obtain (legally). Anyway, getting back to my point, the only police I have actually seen in town were twice: Once, a very large group of police in police cars at the police station (duh), and another time at the scene of a car accident on the east side of town. You don't see cops walking around, you don't see cops sitting around in their cars eating donuts. The cops are all young and fit, and the female cops are hotties. I would have taken some pictures but I haven't seen any police in the last week. Maybe I'll swing by the police station and get some pictures :-).

Compare the above-mentioned lack of violent crime with current events back home, and, well, hey there's a difference, isn't there? Maybe the US needs more to enlist the help of more hottie cops?

Posted by reid at October 5, 2002 07:10 PM