Berlin is the city of now. No other city has been so impacted by world events. It has been battered and torn and restored and it is, slowly, healing. It is changing, day by day, into the Berlin it will someday be and we get to live during this wonderful age.
If you ever decide to party in Berlin, plan to stop partying in Berlin. All the chaos, the growth and splendour, has built a party city which blazes brightly throughout the world, but it's punishing on the body. Realising our own limits had been reached, we got the hell out of Berlin. It was time to see some Germany.
The train trip to Dresden emphasised how flat this part of the country is. The only break in the horizon was the occasional wind-farm.
Coming into Dresden we crossed the Elbe, which routinely floods all of East Germany. In 2002 the Czech Republic opened their gates as a response to flooding, causing Dresden to go under as well.
We were staying in the new-city (Der Neustadt) which reminded us very much of West End. Dresden is an ex-GDR city, and much of this area has been claimed by bars, artists and cafes. It had a great vibe and we really enjoyed an afternoon wandering about exploring its alleys.
That night the Biologist, with whom I studied years ago, took us out for a traditional German dinner. This was deeply appreciated, very filling (everyone had pork and potatoes, except the lady herself, who had fish and chips) and gave us a taste for the local beer.
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