Dresden

OK. So our first stop on the break was to Dresden Germany. We started on a guided bus tour through the city. Here are some pics...

We started at the Opera House:

And from there just saw some cool historical buildings that I can't even remember the significance of right now... but they're beautiful!

I may have gone a little picture crazy... sorry about that.

We ate lunch at this crazy "midieval" style restaurant with torture chambers and thrones... even a table that rotated like a carosel! Plus the food was pretty traditional German cuisine. Potato dumpling, sour crout, and meat. Yummy! More pics...

After a fabulous and filling lunch we went to the Turkish Museum. This is one of the largest and most important collections of Ottoman art in the world (outside of Turkey). Sadly no pictures were allowed... but let me assure you, there were some fabulous sights. Weapons entirely encrusted with gold and turquios and every gem you can imagine. Entire horse saddles woven in gold and silver with precious stones. They even had a segment of one of the tents used for war time. It was quite amazing!

We wanted to stay a little longer in the downtown area of Dresden, so some of us took off on our own. We discovered the most magnificent church, and some fabulous views. There was also some hardcore parkour going on! Too much fun. Even though it was absolutely freezing, we all decided to walk back to the hostel and enjoy the sites.

That evening, it was the Superbowl!! So... being the obnoxious Americans that we are, we found a sports bar around the corner from our hostel that was playing the game. Our time, kick-off wasn't even until 11:30 or 12... so I was surprised at how many people were actually willing to watch the game. Especially when I discovered (much to my dismay) that there were NO SUPERBOWL COMMERCIALS!!! Being in a foreign country, the stations do not have the rights to said commercials. So, with the only real reason I watch the game gone, I ended up leaving after the half time show. Speaking of which, I was pleasantly surprised by Madonna this year... I thought her collaborative efforts were quite nice :)

Anyway...

It was certainly a fun trip. We had to be up before the sun the next morning to be on our way to Leipzig, but that is for another blog...