Day One - initial impressions

Welcome and Introduction

Hello everyone, and welcome to your source for information about my temporary new life in Dresden, Saxony. Since I am not "traveling" per se, I see no reason to keep a separate hard-copy personal journal and electronic public blog, so these entries may be filled with information that neither you nor any other reader would find interesting at all. Thus, I will be using a system of headings and hierarchal organization to allow you to sort through what you think sounds worth reading.

Airplane Ride

A Surreal Flight of Luxury

I must say that this was one of the best flights I have ever been treated to. A hot dinner was served, and I was offered beverages many times throughout the duration of the flight. Also, to my surprise, beer was free! They even walked through the cabin with a bottle of red and white wine after dinner. Between the small amount of alcohol and other medications I consumed to help me catch a full night of sleep, I was in a quite euphoric state. For some reason it seemed appropriate for such a significant journey as this.

Land Usage Observations from Above

Although I did not get a window seat thanks to some businessman who didn't even deserve it, I was still able to make observations regarding land use patterns below just before landing in Frankfurt and Dresden. I must say that especially compared to what I saw from a recent flight out of Atlanta, GA, I was quite impressed. Approaching Atlanta (or most American cities, for that matter) by air, you notice that the land is covered for miles upon miles by unbroken human development. It seems that the goal of the United States is to cover every square inch of earth with pavement. The "spaghetti-style" cul-du-sac-laden streets of suburbia seem to spell things from the sky ("help us"?). This was not the case around Frankfurt and Dresden. Suburbs exist, of course, yet they exist in high-density patches as opposed to low-density sprawl. The land between the cities is mostly left as forest and agriculture. Seems much more logical and responsible to me.

Initial Arrival

After a silent cab ride with a driver who couldn't speak a word of English and a passenger who couldn't speak a word of German, I finally checked into the International Guesthouse: my new temporary home. The check-in seemed to go okay, until I couldn't get the key to work. I went back down the the front desk and the attendant showed me I was an idiot with a swift motion of the key. Then I sat in my room alone with my suitcase and it suddenly hit me that I was in a strange land where I knew absolutely no one, and could not easily meet new people due to the language barrier. So, I did what anyone in this state of shock would do--took a nap. Really, though, it was justified due to lack of sufficient sleep on the airplane.

I'm sure I'm not the only American to travel to Europe with electronic toys only to realize that my power plugs are not welcome here. Not only is the shape of the plug different, but the voltage is as well (~120 VAC in the US, ~250 VAC in Germany). I was easily able to solve this problem using my engineering ingenuity. The laptop power adapter is designed to be used over a range of voltages, so the shape of the plug became the only problem. Luckily I had my bike multi-tool complete with screwdriver with me, so I just removed the power outlet from the wall and made the connection with the bare wires. Please don't tell the fire department. The only problem is I still have no way to charge "AA" batteries, thus will be unable to use my digital camera or portable CD player heavily until I sort that out.

Lost in Dresden

After waking from my nap, I decided to hit the streets with my two-wheeled friend who doesn't just me regardless of what language I speak. Unfortunately, the weather turned south on my after a while. I ended up slipping amongst some cobblestone and streetcar tracks (please don't tell General Motors that there are still streetcars in Dresden) and falling over in the middle of a busy intersection. It wasn't too bad, but I must admit its a lot funnier in the safety and comfort of Blacksburg. As you could have guessed by the title, I found myself completely lost as a severe thunderstorm broke out and daylight was starting to fade. I was armed with nothing but a useless, incomplete map of the city center. What a great thing to happen on the first day in a foreign city.

(Very) Initial Impressions of Dresden as a City

Transportation

It appears to me that Dresdeners move throughout the city using a healthy mix of bikes, public transportation, and private automobile. Keeping in mind that Dresden is more comparable to a city like Baltimore as opposed to New York as far as density goes, the city really goes the extra mile to accommodate cyclists. Every single road with more than two lanes of traffic has a special bike path between the road and the sidwalk (denoted by red brick for cyclists, white brick for pedestrians). There are separate traffic lights just for bikes (they light up with little pictures of bikes). I know that for the city and the world as a whole, having more cyclists is a good thing, but it kind of seems to take the fun out of it. Cyclists can do whatever the hell we want in most cities, and the cars really have no right to complain. Here, however, there is a well-established protocol of how cyclists should act in traffic. Whenever I hit a red light, I was joined by several other cyclists waiting as well.

Architecture and Street Layout

Dresden is traditionally hailed as the "Florence of the Elbe" due to its beautiful baroque architecture. As we all know, this isn't nearly quite as true as it was before World War II, but I must say this is still a beautiful city overall. Due to the soviet control of East Germany after the firebombing, much of the rebuilding was done in that very bland socialist architecture (including the building I am staying in). It is also the "greenest city in Europe," which basically means there are a lot of parks.

Outdoor Advertising

One of my biggest pet peeves these days is outdoor advertising (especially billboards) and I am happy to say that the situation is under much better control compared to many other cities I have visited. Billboards the size of those found in American cities and interstates are non-existent, and the much smaller counterparts thereof are quite rare.

I still haven't even had the chance to cross the Elbe into the Neustadt yet, which from my understanding is where the city really shines. I'm sure my impressions of the city will expand after I explore this area (probably on tomorrow's bike ride, weather permitting).

Accomodation

I am quite disappointed in the building I will be living in, but then again, I've only been here one day. There doesn't seem to be much of an open social atmosphere, and there are no common areas where everyone in the building can come to meet each other. Worse yet, I met my room mate and he shows no sign of wanting to get to know each other. Perhaps this is due to the language barrier, though, as he says he speaks very little English.

Conclusions and Farewell

That's enough for now. If I were only here for a short period of time, I would feel rushed to get out there and have a good time, but that simply isn't the case. It's almost midnight, and I'm going to see what my friends at Hogwarts are up to and then go to bed. Farewell, my friends.