Leaving Berlin I walk to the coach station in Alexanderplatz, it was about mid day and I had bought a load of snacks for the trip. The hostel I was staying in had an excellent free breakfast. It was in Berlin that I started taking photos of all the free breakfasts I received, I would send them to a Finnish woman I met to try and make her jealous of my travels. But for me it was an example of how repetitive travelling was, no matter where I was the breakfasts were always the same. The chocolate cereal, crusty bread cobs, cheese and ham slices and lots of coffee. My advice to hostels is if you want to make it a memorable trip, offer something unique for breakfast.
Before leaving Berlin I wanted to get a photo to try and hold the memory of my time in Berlin, something I did often and almost subconsciously when leaving a city. This case I walked to the Brandenburg gate a few hours before my bus to take this photo. It was really out of my way and I walked all the way here for no other reason.
At the coach station I approached a woman who looked like she was catching the same bus as me and struck up a conversation. She was German and lived in Dresden, she told me she had just got off a flight from I think South America? We made small talk and shortly a bus came, she did not believe it was our bus so I trusted her. After 5 minutes the bus was still at our stop, and it was quickly approaching our departure time. I decided on my own to take a closer look. I walked up to the front of the bus, it was obstructed from view where we were standing and it did indeed say Dresden on the front. I walked back over to the woman, shocked she thanked me and we hurried onto the bus.
We sat next to each other talking for the relatively short bus ride. She invited me out on the evening to smoke "Shisha" pipes, I did not even know what they were but I went along with the idea. This bus ride is also notable for it is the only time I lost a belonging in my 3 months backpacking around Europe. The baseball cap I purchased in Antwerp to protect me from the sun, one of three hats I would eventually purchase during my trip.
The bus arrived at the station near a place called Neustadt. My memory is not perfect but I believe she was being picked up by a friend so we hugged, added each other on Facebook and went our separate ways. I started the walk to the hostel which was an unusually short walk from the bus stop, I was getting really hungry. Food had been somewhat expensive in Western Europe and the Low Lands so I was looking forward to buying some food, I had heard Dresden would be cheaper. I arrived at the Hostel, it was called Kangaroo Stop, checked in and unpacked my bags.
I was told by reception that a Lidl shop was really close by. I knew Lidl from the UK as a discount supermarket so I got ready to buy a stupid amount of food. Supermarket food in the UK is different to alot of Europe, most shops offer nothing in the way of ready meals, pre-made sandwiches or pasta. I would often be required to buy all the ingredients to a sandwich bread, cheese, salad etc all separately. Often having enough to make 4 sandwiches. I sat eating these baguettes I had cobbled together in the common room while talking to an English guy who worked as an electrician in the city. He was living in the hostel due to the short duration of his work contracts.
It was in Dresden that I met a guy from New Zealand, we spoke a little, he was sharing the same room as me. He had been travelling for 6 months or so in Europe when I met him, like me he was planning on going to Leipzig next. He was about 23 years old and had balding black hair, quite a wild guy I thought. I was in my room getting ready to go out with the German woman I met earlier, she had invited another one of her friends. I only had WiFi but no data on my phone so we arranged to meet at a place called AlbertPlatz, it was a public square with two large fountains. I arrived and walked around for 15 minutes before I eventually found them, it was a little hard to do without data.
We first went to get some beer from a shop and then started walking to the Shisha bar? or shop? A homeless man asked us for our beer bottles, it seems in Germany homeless get given money for recycling them. It was also quite busy, lots of people walking around and drinking on the streets it was really dark outside at this point.
We got to the bar and apparently these pipes are flavoured tobacco in a bong? And you smoke it using a mouth piece on the end of tubes. I have never smoked Shisha pipes before or since. Apparently this woman and her friend smoke them often, and have done since they were young. Her friend was particularly good, being able to shoot circles of smoke out of his mouth. I tried to learn but no luck. We talked until late and the woman I met on the bus had to leave because I think she had work in the morning.
I stayed with her friend for another hour talking about my travels. Alot of people I met were really interested in how to actually travel long term. I think everyone has a different idea of what long term travelling is about. Many people, especially locals have never met anyone that has travelled like this. I get the feeling that they did not even think it was possible to travel for 3 months. I had the same feeling about this man. We left the bar after smoking the last of the tobacco and I walked back to the hostel on my own. It was quite a good night, I always liked trying something new when I was travelling.
I spent the next day walking around the city centre of Dresden, it was a bit of a walk from the hostel and I had to cross a bridge. Just before I got to the bridge I found a shop selling Cadburys chocolate, the first and only time in Europe that I found English chocolate. I bought a big bar to eat during the day and carried on. The city centre was totally destroyed by the RAF during the war but it still looks over 150 years old. Unlike many other cities that were destroyed during WW2 they decided to rebuild the city centre exactly the same as it was. The city centre has lots of parks that I strolled around. It also has many buildings that I did not quite know what they were, but I do remember a large opera house.
I went to a shopping centre just to see what kind of shops they had. It was here I walked passed a woman wearing a jumper with the name of a university I had also studied at. I said hello and offered her some of the Cadburys chocolate I had bought earlier in the day. She had been living in Dresden for a few months as an au pair and was also shocked that I had managed to find some, she asked me where she could buy some for herself. We walked around together for 10 minutes and parted ways.
I started walking back to the hostel, I crossed the bridge over the river and went to go and sit in a park called Palaisgarten on a hill over looking the city centre. I spent a few hours reading my kindle and reflecting on the day. It started to get dark so I walked back to the hostel and grabbed some food from a nearby supermarket. I had a quiet night watching German TV on my own. The next day I would leave Dresden for Leipzig.
YOU ARE READING
My Backpacking Memoirs
Non-FictionIn 2017 I embarked on a three month backpacking trip around Europe. Motivated by the many accounts of travel from within religion, I went to learn. But what I experienced was not what I was expecting. This was my first time leaving the UK since I wa...
