Germany, Senftenberg to Dresden
Last night there was a short storm of high wind and heavy rain. A few had their tents blown over. We, of course, were in a delightful B&B, watching the wind and rain from our window.
This morning we loaded our bike and headed for Dresden to find a good bike shop to rebuild our front wheel. We got lost on some construction areas coming through town. A delivery truck driver recognized our plight (you know, double parked, glazed eyes, looking at a map, scratching our heads), came over and asked if he could help. He ended up having us follow him to the final turn. Then he jumped out of his truck, ran back to us to make sure we knew our way from there, then gave us a detailed city map. What a nice guy!
We checked into our hostel (It was a great location -- only a few blocks from the center of town.) and asked them for directions to a bike shop. We went over there and asked the owner about rebuilding the wheel. He didn't speak English and was very surly. We asked another customer to interpret for us. He gave us a price for the work and a price for the materials . . . but said he wouldn't do it for us. He wanted us to buy a cheap, ready-made, 36-spoke wheel, but he would not rebuild our wheel. After our heavy urging, he did, however give us the name and location of another shop.
On our way out, a tall German bike rider asked us if he could help. He appoligized for the rudeness of the shop owner, then told us of two other bike shops that might do the work. In fact, he said, he'd take us to one. It was just around the corner. So we all walked down the street together. The bike shop he referred to was on the 4th floor of a very large department store. There actually was a specialty bicycle store and repair shop there. They couldn't help us, however.
We went back to the car and drove over to one of the other shops. As luck would have it, it was right down the sqame street that the Youth Hostel was on. And, as further luck would have it, they could do the work.
At first, they said they could have it ready on Tuesday afternoon. We explained about our bike trip around the world and that we had to bicycle tomorrow. He suggested Monday, then Saturday. Finally we convinced him that, in fact, we needed to leave tomorrow morning on our bike. He acquiesced and agreed to have it by 18:30 today.
Great!!
That was a load off our minds. We realized that we were tired -- probably more mentally than physically -- so we went back to our hostel and took a nap.
Then we went out to walk through downtown Dresden. We saw some beautiful old buildings -- some of which had been restored, some of which were in the process of being restored.
We learned some things about Dresden. During WW II, it was almost bombed out of existence -- including a lot of fire-bombing. The city is on the way to restoring many of the beautiful old buildings. Much of the work is reusing rubble from the original, much is new. The old and the new is very evident because all of the original buildings are still black from the fire-bombs while the newer construction looks newer. Dresden wants to complete the restoration work by 2006, it's 800th birthday.
We walked across an old bridge over the Elbe River onto a beautiful, wide, pedestrian street with a very wide park area down the center. We passed a gold (yes, real gold) statue of the Emperor Augustus on his horse. We continued down the pedestrian street about six blocks to the end at a beautiful flower garden.
We came back on a very quiet but equally delightful parallel cobblestone street. On the way we walked into one of the many courtyards to check it out. We discovered more sidewalk cafes and several delightful little shops -- including a genuine perfumerie that carried only perfumes and many, many of them. (We make this point because for the past several coiuntries, a "perfumerie" was more like a small drug store.) Lisa found a perfume that, she says, "I've been looking all over the world for this."
Did we buy it?
Lisa didn't want to. Said it cost too much. She went back to reconsider it three times, but came back without it. Too costly, she said.
Finally I said that tomorrow we'll be 80 miles up the road. It'll be too late for non-buyers remorse . . . And I bought it for her. (She loves it! And she didn't have to spend any money for it! Such a deal :-) )
Back to pick up our wheel. It was ready and beautifully done.
Then back to the hostel for dinner. We heard that four riders fell today in the same spot. One of them is in the hospital overnight for observation because she hit her head. One, Bill (from Seattle) really had a chewed up leg. It looked horrible! He had a hole about an inch diameter punched into the side of his upper calf, then all the skin gone for about 12-inches down and 6-inches across. Yuck!
After dinner we had a delightful dessert with Richard and Jane (from Portland), Lillian and Dorothy. We walked to the "Woeld Trade Center," a mall close to the hostel.
Love to all, David and Lisa
|