Dresden, Germany

Maybe it’s just me being sentimental near the end of my trip, but I really like Dresden. It’s modern, functional and a little edgy, and it’s small enough to cover on foot. And the place just has a great feeling to it. Three districts compose the heart of the city: the shopping district near the main train station (very modern), the touristy old town (oldish) and Neustadt, a funky part of town north of the Elbe River (moderately modern?).

My hostel is in Neustadt, where the nightlife is quirky, such as the bar Lebowski, where my favorite movie is playing nonstop in German, and mostly aimed at a younger, uhh, “alternative” audience. There are more head shops and kebab stands per capita than might be healthy, but at least they’re keeping the streets lively.

My coffee-addicted Italian friend

The Mondpalast hostel itself is pretty wonderful, certainly one of the best I have stayed in: big, airy rooms at a good price, great facilities (including a big kitchen) and even a decent bar downstairs. The clientele is international and interesting. Tonight at dinner, I spoke at length in the kitchen with a German guy who lives in Holland. Later, I was treated to real Italian coffee by a few guys from Como, Italy, who are traveling with their own espresso maker and a bag of their favorite beans. “If I don’t drink coffee after dinner,” one of the guys said to me, “I can’t stay out drinking until 5 in the morning. And that’s not good.”

Inside the Dresden Hygiene Museum

My obligatory weird museum stop was the Dresden Hygiene Museum, which has very little to do with hygiene. The permanent collection is typical, complete with interactive displays and computer presentations about the human body and glass models of a human and a cow. The special exhibit, a modern art show loosely centered around the Ten Commandments, was even more interesting. Most of it is bizarre, such as a video of an Israeli woman using barbed wire as a hula hoop — buck naked. Another video showed Bosnians looking for landmines after the war. And it went on… sculptures of naked kids, a dollar sign made of lightbulbs, and even a 500-kilogram pile of tiny pieces of foil-wrapped candy.

Tourist central

After that, I needed to relax for a bit, so I caught a screening of Super Size Me, half in English and half in German. I guess the point comes across no matter what language the voice overs are in: fast food ain’t good for ya. I am also reading a new book, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Assigned to cover the commercialization of Everest for Outside magazine, the author accidentally winds up witnessing one of the biggest Everest disasters ever. So far, a good read. I will probably finish it tomorrow during my nine hour train ride to Amsterdam. With that in mind, I am going to hit the hay, as my wakeup call is really, really early. Auf wiedersehen for now!