It was the summer of my sophomore year in high school. My bags were packed, my passport ready, and my snacks stacked high as I made my way through security at Denver International. I was stoked because I was going on a trip, not to a different state, but to an entirely different country. In just a few short hours, I would be thousands of miles away from home, living the life of a German. It was a lot for the mind of a young, immature high school student to take in. After watching at least three two-hour long movies, eating some questionable airline lasagna, and taking probably the most uncomfortable nap of my entire life, our humble little group of nine high school buddies and two 'Fraus' departed the plane in Germany, and my life hasn't been the same since. That trip (nearly three weeks abroad exploring Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and more) sparked a love for travel that would stay a part of me for three years and would eventually lead me back to the place where I first discovered my life long ambition of travel.
If you would have told me back then that I would once again be exploring the German countryside, this time with a gaggle of close college friends, I would have probably called you insane. And yet here I was, walking the cobblestone streets of Wittenberg and Dresden, gabbing and laughing with Bree and Ashley as I attempted (however poorly) to translate what little German I recognized from high school for them. Arriving in Wittenberg after a 6 hour bus ride, we were all a little exhausted and ready for some good German cuisine. After checking into our hostel, which sat right behind the church in which Martin Luther of Lutheran fame is buried (which is one of the reasons we traveled to Wittenberg in the first place), we separated from the rest of the group and found ourselves a nice little restaurant with pleasant waitstaff. The elderly gentleman that served us spoke English quite well, although his understanding of some words seemed to be a bit lacking. For instance, towards the end of the dinner, Ashley became thirsty and asked the man for a glass of ice water. He looked a bit puzzled by her request, but went behind the bar and came back a few minutes later with a glass of ice water. As he set it down in front of Ashley, he apologized and admitted he wasn't quite sure if the beverage was what she was looking for. We collectively lost our shit after leaving the restaurant at the apparent difficulty in making a glass of ice water. In all fairness, that isn't a very common request in most of Europe, but it still just seemed so ridiculous we couldn't help but laugh.
After a restless night on one of the flattest pillows I've ever slept on, the group congregated outside the large church in our backyard and began its tour of Wittenberg. Luther's church was much like many of the other churches we visited throughout the semester, small and quaint but with a lot of history hidden within its walls. This church in particular was especially important to a couple of the students as they were Lutheran. It served almost as a holy visit for those students, as they got to see the burial place of the man who founded their sect as well as the room in which he orated his 95 thesis. For those of us who had no idea what any of that meant, it was still a fairly cool church to visit, and the view from the top of the tower was beautiful. After the church, we walked to a museum built on top of an old portion of the town that had been buried for hundreds of years. This museum was essentially a love letter to Lutheranism, and it held all the history of the religion and its founders. Although I personally didn't care much for the museum as I am not particularly religious, I think it was good for those in the group that are Lutheran to see a bit of the history behind what they hear about in church every Sunday.
Once we had finished the museums, we got some free time to explore the city. First, we found a cool little 'Eis Cafe' (essentially an ice cream parlor). The Germans do this interesting thing with some of their sundays where the push it through what looks like a Play-Doh mold and make the ice cream look like pasta. I remembered learning about it in German class, so I decided to try the real deal. Let me just say, that was some of the best ice cream I've ever had. It was vanilla ice cream squeezed into thin noodles topped with fresh strawberries and strawberry jam with shaved white chocolate as a finishing touch. If I hadn't know it was ice cream, I would have thought I'd ordered a bowl of spaghetti. Once I'd had my fill, it was off to the chocolate shops to find some German chocolate. German's take great pride in their chocolate, as they should, because it is damn good. However, its always best to be able to read German if you want to buy some authentic German chocolate. For example, I bought a little tray of what I believed to be chocolate covered pretzels. I love chocolate covered pretzels so I was really looking forward to it, but the instant I bit into the first morsel, my eyes teared up and I regretted my buying decision. Don't as me how they did it, but somehow this candy store had covered liquid rum in a chocolate ring. It was one of the worst surprises I think I've ever received. However, there was a silver lining. No one was aware of the nasty innards of the chocolate so I decided to play a trick on everyone with the remaining candies. I offered one to each of the other students. Bree was immediately suspicious and attempted to break the chocolate open to see what was inside, resulting in her dousing herself with sticky chocolate rum. Ashley took it enthusiastically and stuffed the entire thing in her mouth. I could see the moment she realized it wasn't what she expected as the juicy innards gushed into her mouth and she gagged with a look of dread and betrayal in her eyes. Nick decided to take a bite of half the candy, and as the rum dribbled down his chin, he rushed to the trash can to spit the chocolate out of his mouth. Kody saw all of this and immediately threw his away without even attempting a taste and Sheyenne just watched laughing as she got lucky and doesn't like chocolate to begin with. I feel a bit bad about the nasty prank, but then again, it was absolutely hilarious and the reactions were priceless.
From Wittenberg, we traveled to Dresden. Dresden is a much bigger city than Wittenberg, and has some interesting history of its own. During World War II, Dresden was firebombed by the allies. This means that many of the buildings in and around the city are simply recreations of what used to be there from reconstruction efforts since the end of the war. However, some scars are still visible to visitors. Many of the more historical sites, like the large Lutheran church in the center of the city, still have some of the original stones that were used in the reconstruction. It was cool to see the pristine new stones next to the charred, black stones from the original building. Those buildings that didn't need to be completely replaced also bore scars from the raid, looking black and charcoal-y from the immense heat of the bombs.
Dresden also housed some interesting museums. One displayed the history of warfare, with an entire section dedicated to the animals of war, which was extremely depressing but also very interesting. Apparently, back in the world wars, both sides used dogs as mini suicide bombers. They would strap bomb vests to the backs of dogs and teach them that treats could be found under tanks. The vest would trigger when the dog would go under the tank looking for these treats. Scientists also used animals for testing of lethal gases and medicines. There was a stomach turning video of a cat exposed to the gas used in the gas chambers at Auschwitz and other concentration camps. It was really hard to watch as the cat pleaded for help as it coughed up its own lungs and eventually died an agonizing death. With that bit of sunshine out of the way, the rest of the museum was very interesting, especially to me being the huge history nerd I am. There was a whole display of letters and such that soldiers' families sent them not knowing their kids were dead or missing. It was a somber experience, but an interesting one nonetheless. The other museum we visited was an art museum. Although the art portion was pretty boring, the museum had a beautiful garden area that we sat and chatted in for a couple hours, just enjoying the scenery.
With that, our journey to Germany came to an end. It was another 6 hour bus ride back to Olomouc and then time to start packing for Prague.
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