Very very very early start today - 0330 alarm, out the door by (just after) 4am.
It wasn’t entirely dark but it wasn’t far off it.
Dropped off the car without incident, got a lift to the terminal.
Fought with the automated check-in machines in an attempt to get bag tags… four machines later, we check in only to be told we had to go and check in manually with a person. Grr.
Stand in line for what feels like an age - muscles burning as I maneuver the bag along.
Get the bags in, my duffel’s only about 15kg. :)
Mumble our way through security, as usual my bag’s pulled aside for double checking by a human - but they didn’t even open it before handing it over. One day I’ll convince someone to let me take a photo - not today - I was way too grumpy looking for that.
Breakfast in the airport was about $30 for a pair of cold toasted sandwiches - they forgot to make the second one without prompting and then didn’t heat up the first one. I was too hungry and tired to care by that point.
Wandered down to the gate, grabbing a smoked lamb and egg sandwich for each of us because IcelandAir in flight food is ridiculous, even for Iceland prices :S
Flight was uneventful and thankfully relatively short. I am too big for the seats in cheap airlines. Watched Deadpool 2 with the sound off because I couldn’t be bothered grabbing my headphones (they’re not free…)
Landed at Berlin Tegel airport. What a suprisingly inefficient and weird set up they have. Two baggage carousels, and we waited for nearly 45 minutes for our bags. There was a flight before us and it took a spectacular amount of time for those bags to come out at all - the crowd waiting literally cheered and clapped when it did. Then most of the bags for our flight came out, and were picked up. .. and we waited. There were about twenty people standing around looking bemused, while all sorts of banging and crashing and dogs barking happened behind the wall between us and the baggage handlers.
Another flight’s bags were already mostly out on the other carousel before our bags magically appeared without any explanation. weird.
Signage in the airport is shit. Eventually found the rental car pickup - at the very other end from the arrivals area, which is ridiculous. The email from Hertz said “near P2” - first sign we saw had P2 on it, then the second, then didn’t see it mentioned again until we had just guessed and kept walking across the complex.
After all the worrying about the international driving permits, they weren’t interested in mine when proferred - “that’s for the police, not us” - hopefully the Polish rental companies will care otherwise we’ll have stressed altogether too much for nothing.
Were expecting a “Volvo X40” or similar, got a Skoda Octavia. Seems like a recent model, quite a nice car for someone my size. Five speed manual diesel which has a nice amount of get up and go. Quiet as a mouse, even when pushed. And how I pushed it. Germany, remember? 150km/h looks to be the entry fee for the left hand lane when people aren’t being painful. I spent a lot of time trying to keep up - or out of the way - cruising at 125km/h or so and enjoying the view.
Dresden navigation is fun - definitely designed for an age of horses - skinny streets and many different tiny little intersections. Adding tram lines and my unfamiliarity didn’t help one bit. Google maps was utterly confused by the construction, and I was in no state to make sense of driving across pedestrian shared areas, but we made it.
What a lovely place. It feels smallish to walk around, but the gravitas of the old buildings is powerful.
Frauenkirche Dresden
Martin Luther statue
Fürstenzug mural
Katholische Hofkirche
Statue of King Johann - König-Johann-Denkmal - balls selfie
the opera house is pretty but we couldn’t get inside to see properly
walked into the zwinger - lovely open area and grotesques
Cholerabrunnen - amazing gothic fountain
wandered around a lot looking for food
dinner at Freiberger Schankhaus. service was scarce - they were busy and understaffed - but we felt a little ignored.
food was amazing.
lentil soup. bread with crackling fat which was like mashed potatoes.
I had the Schankhaus pan - roast pork, smoked pork, roasted blood sausage, barbecue sausage and bacon wirth pickled cabbage and fried potatoes
RMB had Braised ox cheeks - with carrots and mashed potatoes
very simple and amazing food
AMAZING HUGE ROOM
19’ square bathroom of doom just huge
