Czechs seem to be very enthusiastic nose-blowers. Everyone seems to have a handkerchief with them at all times, and people use them whenever necessary. What has struck me as odd about this relatively normal and ultimately necessary practice, is that there don't seem to be any moments when it is inappropriate to blow one's nose, and regardless of the setting, there is absolutely no attempt by the nose-blower to be subtle about the task. When I attended the play in Hronov soon after my arrival, a young man in the row behind me blew his nose vigorously throughout the performance. No one around me seemed to be bothered by it in the least, and as it continued, I found it harder and harder not to laugh. Since then, I have discovered that people will blow their noses, forcefully, at the table, in class, or while standing very close to someone else on a crowded train. There doesn't seem to be any sort of "grossness" affiliated with this particular activity, as far as I can tell, but it's been hard for me to get used to.
Before I left the U.S., one *fairly* important task I failed to accomplish was acquiring the visa from the Czech government that allows me to stay in the country for the year. The Czech Republic (for those of you considering a visit, for instance) allows Americans to enter the country without a visa and stay as a tourist for up to 90 days. Many Americans who have found themselves staying here after such a visit have also discovered that you can just cross a border at the 90 day mark, re-enter the country, and have your 90 days start all over again! The foreign police might not find this particular approach amusing, legal though it may be, and as a Fulbright grantee, I am supposed to "obey the law" or something silly like that. Basically, this all leads up to the fact that one of the things I needed to take care of rather quickly upon my arrival was submitting the application for my visa. The small hitch to this task was that the application had to made from OUTSIDE the country, so I needed to find my way to a Czech embassy or consulate to take care of this. Thus, I made a trip to the Czech embassy in Dresden on August 15, and stayed to see the sights.
My train ride began in Hronov at just before 7am and involved three changes before my ultimate arrival at the Dresden Hauptbahnhof at 12:45. It was my first train ride by myself involving so many changes at unknown stations so I was INCREDIBLY proud of myself when I arrived in Dresden safely, having figured it all out. One of the interesting things about this experience abroad, particularly in the early weeks, was what huge satisfaction and pride completing very simple tasks could produce, and this train trip was no exception. I had left Hronov in sort of mediocre weather, and had traveled through many bursts of rain on the trip, so I was quite excited to arrive in Dresden to sunshine and warmth. In fact, in my first couple steps out of the train station, I was overwhelmed by a sense that I was going to love this city. (In all fairness, I love Germany in general even though Dresden has much to recommend it in its own right. There is something really comforting and exhilarating about the modernity and, well, cliche'd though it may be, efficiency of German society.) In a few more steps, I was at the S-bahn station for a tram ride to Albertplatz and the embassy. (The S-bahn is Dresden's public transit network, similar to Portland's MAX system.)
The center part of Dresden is built on a bend in the Elbe River, with the old part of the city (Altstadt) to the south, on the outside of the bend, and the newer part of the city (Neustadt) to the north, in the cup of land formed by the river bend. Albertplatz is at the convergence of about ten streets just a few blocks north of the river, which lead away from the "platz" like spokes of a wheel. The Czech embassy is located about a block down one of these streets, and I found it without any trouble. Contrary to some of the horror stories I had heard about the waiting time at the embassy, I only waited 15 minutes before a nice woman inspected my paperwork (BARELY looking at the birth certificate I went to so much trouble to obtain before leaving--thanks!) and informed me that the only problem was that the photos I had brought were the wrong size. I sighed as I imagined having to find a passport photo location in Dresden, only to realize she was holding out a pair of scissors and wanted me to cut the three photos I had to fit the box on her form. This entailed trimming about 2 millimeters off of two sides.
K: Seriously? You want me to cut these pictures?
Nice Embassy Woman: Yes. They have to fit in this box (pointing to form).
K: Okay . . .
A few minutes later, having turned in my correctly-sized photos, paid 7 Euros for a criminal background check, and given the nice woman my email address so that she could contact me in 2-4 MONTHS when my visa was ready to pick up, I left the embassy, free to roam the city before catching my train back to Hronov the next day.
I walked over two streets/spokes to meander down a pedestrian mall on the Hauptstrasse that would lead me to the river, the Augustusbrucke ("brucke" is the German word for bridge), and, conveniently, my hotel. (I splurged on a room at the Dresden Westin to enjoy one night's sleep in a great bed and the luxury of a good shower, both of which were lacking in my Hronov residence.) At the end of the Hauptstrasse was a small square where I took the photos that follow:
This is from the square, looking back towards the Albertplatz. Obviously, the trees *kind of* block the view, but this mall area was really cozy--all cobblestones with a nice mix of shops and pubs. I plan on visiting it again on my return trip in 2-4 MONTHS.
As some of you may know, Dresden was the capital of the former kingdom of Saxony, which explains a lot about the rich architectural heritage of the city. As some of you may also know, a concerted effort by the Allies to wipe Dresden off the map through round-the-clock bombing in February of 1945 did a significant amount of damage to that architecture. I was kind of impressed by the way a lot of the reconstruction in the city has been handled, as shown in this statue of Frederich Augustus II (during whose reign many of the reknowned buildings of Dresden were commissioned, and who, incidentally, as legend has it, fathered over 300 illegitimate children, if you wanted to know). The original gilding of the statue was, not surprisingly, destroyed in the firestorm that engulfed Dresden after the bombing campaign, so the statue was recast and the letters on the plaque were regilded, but the pedestal was left on display in all its carbonized glory, perhaps as a testament to the survival of the city, or the horrors of war?
A different focus of restoration work can be seen in this fountain, which clearly had pieces broken (blown) off of it, and thus had to be reassembled and cleaned.
After depositing my bag in my hotel room, I headed towards the Augustbrucke, where I would cross the river to the Altstadt. There, my first goal was to tour the recently re-opened Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). This is one view of the Altstadt as you cross the Augustbrucke--you can see the dome of the Frauenkirche rising mightily behind the river-front palaces:
Because Dresden was part of the GDR for fifty years after the war, a lot of the reconstruction work was not completed, with the notable exception of the Opera House, which is sort of an iconic structure in Dresden. (My Lonely Planet guide says, "The Opera House IS Dresden," for instance.) The Soviets invested a great deal of money and effort to return it to its pre-war glory; I can only imagine that this was largely motivated by the party officials who wanted to enjoy productions there. In any case, a visit to Dresden today includes many glimpses of current reconstruction and new construction projects, emcompassing a variety of architectural styles. Many of the 18th Century buildings are being restored while very modern buildings go up around them, which makes for an interesting skyscape (I thought). There is no question, particularly when traveling from the Czech Republic, that what was formerly East Germany is benefitting marvelously from the capital and resources of West Germany in the post-Soviet period. Dresden, for instance, is light years ahead of Prague in terms of the amount of reconstruction and maintenance work that has been done on the infrastructure since 1990, and Dresden, of course, also has the war damage to contend with. The Czechs are making great strides, but as small country of 10 million people, the CR just doesn't have an economy large enough to fund all of the work that needs to be done. I was told that many West Germans are bitter about the fact that their tax dollars are funding the rebuilding of the East, but I would imagine that most East Germans are pretty happy about reunification--it seems to be working out awfully well for them, at least as far as I can see. (In the interest of fair coverage, I have heard that the northern industrial areas in East Germany are suffering from pretty serious economic depression, but I have no idea if/how that impacts Western investment in infrastructure.)
This photo (again, note the *stellar* photography skills I employed . . .) is meant to show what I was talking about regarding old and new architecture. The next bridge to the east is called the Carolsbrucke, which you can see in the photograph, that connects the two halves of the city via a major traffic artery. Also, the open area next to the river on the north side is used for a variety of public gatherings. The Friday evening after I left, a new movie was going to be screened there. Cool!
This next group of photos were all taken in the Altstadt right near the bridge. The cathedral is called the Hofkirche, and is famous for, among other things, containing the heart of Augustus the Strong (same guy as the gold statue). The second picture is another glimpse of the Frauenkirche. (It's huge, and surrounded by buildings so it's almost impossible to take a photo of it while you're standing next to it.)
After wandering through something called the Terassengasse, I was able to work my way down the street toward the church. I stopped to buy a few souvenirs (in Euro, which definitely hurts more than spending Czech crowns) and made my way through a crowd of people at sidewalk tables, ice cream stands, or just walking down the street. Clearly, I had hit the tourist mother-lode! The line for the Frauenkirche wasn't long at all, however, so I was inside what is now a brand-new church quickly--and without having to pay to enter, which was surprising. Photographs are prohibited inside (not this stopped many people from taking them, I couldn't help but notice) but the interior has been reconstructed to mirror the previous one, complete with baroque frescoes and lots of gilding throughout. To the side of the alter stands the old cross that had adorned the original dome, now green with oxidation and hopelessly deformed by the heat of the firestorm. Beyond this was a small chapel where people could light candles and sign the guest book. The church has only been open again since 2006, and the reconstruction of it didn't start until 1992, which seems odd to me--prior to the war, it was the largest Protestant church in all of Germany. After the reunification, a group of private citizens started a fund-raising campaign to see the church rebuilt, and ended up completing the project without using a single public dollar. Someone who won a Pulitzer Prize for medicine in the 1990's donated his entire $1,000,000 award to the restoration, and a German bank also donated several million Euro. In any case, it is an inspiring building, for many reasons.
Here is the official link for the church (in German). If you click through the various parts of the website, you'll get to see lots of great pictures of it, both inside and out:
www.frauenkirche-dresden.de
Here is one photo I took of the church close-up--you can see that they salvaged some of the stones from the rubble of the old church to re-build the new one, and the old stones are mixed in with the new ones.
Following my tour of the Frauenkirche, I stopped to get some ice cream at one of the ubiquitous ice-cream carts in the city. The kid working spoke English, which was helpful, and we had a good laugh about an old woman who totally pushed ahead of me in line to purchase her ice cream. Apparently she was a regular!
My next stop, post-ice cream, was to spend the 5 Euro my friend Ahmed had given me in May on a beer--as per his clear instructions. I walked back over the bridge, taking this photo of the western half of the Altstadt. You can see the pillar of the Augustbrucke on the left, and the large building on the right (across the river) is the Opera House, which I will definitely visit on my next trip.
Once I got back to the pedestrian mall area, I did a little shopping, and then settled at an outdoor table at pub and ordered a beer. I did some people-watching, and thought some more about all I had seen, and after a while, a nice British couple asked if they could share my table as all the other tables were taken. Naturally, I agreed and thus I met Bob & Barb (in a not-very-good photo that I can blame on the waiter this time):
Bob served in the British Army during World War II, and spent time in Germany, where he met Barb, who grew up in Hamburg. Now retired, they most spend their time gardening and traveling. This was their first trip to Dresden since the fall of the Iron Curtain, so we talked a lot about our impressions, and traveling in Europe in general. I was glad to have someone to talk to, but as the conversation continued, I had to fight the urge to find an excuse to leave as I was uncomfortable with some of their attitudes. Barb, particularly, had a very negative view of the European Union and expressed some blatantly racist opinions about how immigration changes were ruining the UK. It's hard for me to believe that Asian immigrants could really devastate British culture (as Barb seemed certain they would) considering all that British culture has survived so far, but maybe that's just me. They had traveled extensively in the U.S. as well, and I found myself at times having to defend, cautiously, the American way of life. Mostly it was interesting to consider, again, the differences between Europeans and Americans. Based on my encounters so far during this exchange, many European nations have some work to do in managing and accepting their increasingly ethnically-diverse populations. The U.S. has a lot of work to do in this area as well, but I think we've gotten quite a head start from having lived in a heterogenous group much longer. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed listening to Bob's wonderful clipped English, complete with question tags at the end of almost every sentence: "We had quite a good time in Austria, didn't we?", and we parted company on friendly terms. I went back to my hotel to take a looooong shower, and get a dose of English language TV with BBC World News.
The next morning, it was raining in Dresden but it was hardly a bother. I had slept in and just needed to get something to eat before boarding my noon train back to the Czech Republic. I took the S-bahn back over to the train station and sat at a nearby bakery. I had what I can only describe as a homemade Hot Pocket and a cappucino--the first real coffee I had had since getting to Hronov. It was so good I ordered another one, and then headed for the train. In my compartment, a group of young men were talking so I took a seat in the back corner to eavesdrop. It turns out that five of them were from a university in California, some finishing their summer travels while one was headed for a year of studying abroad in Italy, and headed to Prague. The other two were Irishmen on their way to Budapest. They kept me entertained for most of the trip.
Then, things got interesting. My first stop in the Czech Republic was at the main station ("hlavni nadrazi" in Czech, which is a useful phrase if you plan to travel here) in Pardubice (pronounced Par-doo-bitsuh) where I was to change to a smaller train for the rest of my trip to Hronov. Our train had been late coming into the station so I only had a couple minutes to run from my platform, down the stairs, through the tunnel, and up the stairs to the platform for my next train. I took a seat and was confidently on my way, especially since my trip to Dresden had been so easy. A few minutes out of the main station, we stopped at Pardubice-Rosice and some people got off. Then some people got on. Then some cars were detached and basically our one train became two trains, going in two different directions. Guess which direction I needed to go? That's right, the OTHER direction! (Who knew that trains even did this? I didn't! How do you know if this is going to happen, and if so, which end you should be on?!? I asked these very questions of Martin the next day, whose calm reply was, "You read the signs on the side of the train cars." Ohhhhh.) When the conductor saw my ticket, he put me off the train at the next station, directing me to get on the next train going the opposite direction. Um . . . okay . . . The station I was deposited at was completely deserted so I couldn't even ask anyone when the next train was coming. Also it started raining. Also I really had to use the bathroom, which was locked. After about an hour at this station (yes, there was a little crying), two trains going the wrong way, and several people coming to check for trains who couldn't speak English or understand my broken Czech, I was saved by a miraculous phone call from my colleague Zuzana who found me a new train schedule. In a few more minutes, I boarded a train going the right way and started back from Hronov AGAIN. The conductor of this train did a double-take when he looked at my ticket (which indicated the route I was supposed to take). I knew he wouldn't understand me, but I couldn't help but say, "It's a long story." He just looked at me again, stamped my ticket, and walked away.
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