Stadtfest

I'm running on very little sleep again,  but I'm hoping that if I post now I can get out all of my excitement and go back to sleep!

Yesterday morning I went for a jog around the area.  There's a big park nearby called GroBer Garten (lit. big park lol).  It has a lot of nice dirt paths cutting through it.  The sidewalk over there isn't too bad either.  I know I have to be careful about my knee here.  I've been doing a lot of walking and running (and dancing!) on uneven surfaces, and I've been rather lazy about keeping up with my hip abductor strengthening exercises.  I don't know if I'll get a gym membership here because the gym only has weights and no cardio machines.  But I figure dancing is the best cardio anyways!  You should see how sweaty we all get.

After running I went to the Netto-Markt with Lin.  We got some bath stuff and food.  I found some new pickles to try (Partygurken this time.)  I swear, I could live off German pickles for the rest of my time here.  I got some bread, but I couldn't find any Erdnussbutter (peanut butter), only Nutella.  Yes, Nutella is delicious, but when a girl wants her pb&j, a girl needs her pb&j.  I can't go 4 months without a little taste of home!  I ended up finding a jar at the bigger Supermarkt in the mall, and I was so excited that I bought the biggest one and didn't even mind having to carry it around Stadtfest for the rest of the night.

Stadtfest (Cityfest) was so much fun!  Exhausting, but fun.  I met a Dresden guy named Fabian there in the afternoon, and we got some beer and walked around looking at all the booths and the old buildings.  He'd studied abroad for two years in London, so he was able to explain a lot of the history to me in English (most of the German I'd heard on our city bus tour had gone over my head.)  Apparently Dresden is the capital of Saxony, and we saw the old castle where the government would meet.  We also saw the Frauenkirche, which was this really old medieval church that got leveled during WWII.  A replica was rebuilt with new stones and some of the rubble, so the stones in the church are all different colors.

It's pretty to see now, but it's sad to see the old foundations of the church and pictures from after WWII when you can see how all of the beautiful architecture in that area was just gone.  It makes me sad when armies destroy history like that.  Obviously those places weren't army bunkers or anything.  I can see how it definitely destroyed morale for the entire city though.  You grow up with a collective pride for your history, and then all of a sudden your city is just rubble and you have nothing to fight for.

Besides those depressing thoughts, the rest of Stadtfest was a big party.  There were a lot of Medieval booths and reenactments going on.  I met up with Anthony for dinner in the evening, and we walked all over the fairgrounds.  We bought some pink Fruit Wine from a medieval booth (everyone was dressed up!)  It was wicked expensive (3 euros for a glass), but so delicious.  We also split a giant Bretzel and ogled the XXL Donuts.

We crossed the bridge into Neustadt and found an open air dance party.  It was only about 9 pm, so only kids were dancing.  However, I'm not one to turn down a chance to dance to German House music just from fear of looking weird, so I went out and danced with the Kinder while Anthony spent about an hour trying to order and pay for his beer.  The DJ played some German classics, like "Das Geht Ab" and "Disco Pogo" by Atzin.  I felt pretty badass because I could sing along to all the German, American, and Spanish songs he played. :-)

Once it started filling up, the DJ switched to Black Musik and slower stuff, so Anthony and I went back across the bridge into Aldstadt and just hung out.  We saw some nice fireworks over the river.  Lin really wanted to go to the club we went to last night (Club Royal) because they were doing an 80's and 90's night.  Since Anthony and I were separate from the group, we got there early and went inside to wait for them.  Entry was free again, but the drinks there are rather pricey (for Dresden standards, of course they're still only half the price of Boston drinks.)

The only people dancing were middle-aged German couples remembering their courting days.  I didn't feel like sitting the whole time, so I danced by myself for quite a bit.  That seems to be pretty common for me here, but I don't mind.  When will I ever see these people again?  Besides, if I enjoy the music, I don't care if I'm the only one dancing or not.  Eventually I ended up dancing with a girl my age and her mother.  They were impressed that I knew all the words to the English songs.  I told them that I was from America and it was my first time here in Germany and I loved it.  The girl, Anna, said she lives in Berlin and would be happy to let me stay at her place if I ever want to come visit.  Yay for making new friends!

I also met a guy, Oli (Oliver) from Hamburg in north Germany.  He was also really into House music and he told me Hamburg has the best clubs in Germany so I really should come visit.  I definitely want to, although it's a good 7 hours by train I think.  At least I get 50% off the tickets with my student ID.  I'll probably make a trip there soon, especially since my ancestors came from up there, and I'm pretty sure I have some distant relatives from near there that contacted my grandma in Wisconsin.  I'll have to see if she still has the name and address.  From what I know, my mom's family is from north Germany, while my dad's side is British and Austrian.  Maybe I can find some old town records or something.  I'm probably the first one in the family to come back!

So eventually Lin and the other Libby's showed up and the party really got started.  They played a lot of Ace of Base and other techno-pop songs from the period.  Lin got the DJ to play some Billy Idol, and we were all going nuts jumping around and spinning each other.  The Americans dominated this dance floor!  Oli ended up hanging out with us because he was in town with only his Dad, so he didn't know anyone else there.  We did a lot of group shots (Prost!)  I didn't get too drunk, but I did end up calling Oli "Der Hamburger" and giggling for the rest of the night because I'm an immature American like that. :-)

On the walk back to the Haltestelle (train stop), we ended up walking next to a bunch of guys dressed up in costumes.  One of them looked like some creepier version of Freddy Kreuger, and he kept growling and trying to scare us girls.  Then "Superman" would come and promise to protect us!  We were giggling a lot lol.  The guy dressed as a Samurai almost got in a fight with someone in front of the McDonald's (I know, just as classy as Allston,) but Superman broke it up just in time.  I don't know where they had been, but I want to go to that party!