Winter Break Part 1
Let's just say that I would write forever on the details of my winter break. However, neither you nor I have the time it would take to give intricate details of what I saw, smelled, tasted, heard, and so on. So the following will be a skimmed down version of the past 3 weeks. Consider it a sort of "Cliffs Notes". If you like what you read, you can always sit down with me sometime in the future and I'll recollect every single nuance and detail of what I would consider the best of what I have done so far.
I won't waste any time explaining the routes of travel, other than to simply state that we did travel by land, sea, and air. Well, I guess a little explanation is in order...
Kendra and I started by taking a cab to Meknes and a train to Tangier. We stayed over night in Tangier in what is officially my favorite cheap little hotel in all of Morocco. This mainly has to do with the staff. The next morning we woke early and hopped a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tariffa, Spain. Once in Tariffa, we had to take a bus to Algeciras, where we took a train to Granada. That night we had a room in a very nice hostel booked. We explored Granada a little and I quickly decided that one night is not nearly enough time there. Spain is definately my favorite country...at least it was at this point.
The following morning we got on our pre-booked flight to Frankfurt. Some of you may remember an email that I sent at the begining of my travels containing some information about a little mistake that I made. There's really no need to beat a dead horse, but I'll give a quick explanation of what happens here...for those of you who are new. I booked the flight to Frankfurt, told Kendra that I booked it to Stuttgart, so Kendra got our flight to Dresden from Stuttgart. Oopsie. This mistake ended up being not so bad though. Once we got to Frankfurt (the airport is actually a couple of hours away from Frankfurt) we had to explore our options. We quickly figured out that a flight to Dresden was out of the question. The costs of a same-day flight in Germany close to Christmas is enough to drain the red from Rudolphs nose AND Santas suit. (HA!)
The best option, and what we eventually decided on was renting a car and driving to Dresden. It was the cheapest, most time-efficient way...at least that's how it seemed in the begining.
I really don't want to get into too much detail, but let's just say that the Germans are great at many things, but labeling roads is NOT one of them. Of course it would have helped if Kendra and I stuck to the main roads, but we decided that since we have a car and time to waste, we may as well take the scenic route. Well, several u-turns, cursing fits of rage, and a few hours behind schedule we pulled into Dresden at about midnight, and we were finally able to find the apartment at about 2am. Instead of waking up the people who had the keys we spend the night in the car. How's that for excitment?
The night in the care was so cold. We didn't have any blankets, pillows, sleeping bags, or heavy winter clothing. But we made it through most of the night and were able to get into the apartment at about 7am. The next 10 days or so would be spent in what to us is that lap of luxury. An apartment all to ourselves, phone numbers of people who would be willing to help us, a map of the tram/bus system, and a Dresden guide book. It was wonderful, relaxing, and just what the doctor had ordered.
Not much happened during these ten days. We just did a lot of relaxing and soaking in of the Western world. We did do quite a bit of exploring. The things that stand out the most were the christmas markets and the architecture. (I'll try to post some pictures later. Morocco doesn't seem to want to give up that much bandwidth right now)
We also made a great new friend. Laquas left a phone number for one of Jeans co-workers, Chee Wan. So we called Chee Wan and had a blast. She showed us some really cool stuff in Dresden, took us out for drinks (3 Belgian beers = BAD) and then led us to an amazing Taiwanese restaurant on our last night there. We spent 3 days with her and had such a blast. Thanks Chee Wan!!!!
I won't waste any time explaining the routes of travel, other than to simply state that we did travel by land, sea, and air. Well, I guess a little explanation is in order...
Kendra and I started by taking a cab to Meknes and a train to Tangier. We stayed over night in Tangier in what is officially my favorite cheap little hotel in all of Morocco. This mainly has to do with the staff. The next morning we woke early and hopped a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tariffa, Spain. Once in Tariffa, we had to take a bus to Algeciras, where we took a train to Granada. That night we had a room in a very nice hostel booked. We explored Granada a little and I quickly decided that one night is not nearly enough time there. Spain is definately my favorite country...at least it was at this point.
The following morning we got on our pre-booked flight to Frankfurt. Some of you may remember an email that I sent at the begining of my travels containing some information about a little mistake that I made. There's really no need to beat a dead horse, but I'll give a quick explanation of what happens here...for those of you who are new. I booked the flight to Frankfurt, told Kendra that I booked it to Stuttgart, so Kendra got our flight to Dresden from Stuttgart. Oopsie. This mistake ended up being not so bad though. Once we got to Frankfurt (the airport is actually a couple of hours away from Frankfurt) we had to explore our options. We quickly figured out that a flight to Dresden was out of the question. The costs of a same-day flight in Germany close to Christmas is enough to drain the red from Rudolphs nose AND Santas suit. (HA!)
The best option, and what we eventually decided on was renting a car and driving to Dresden. It was the cheapest, most time-efficient way...at least that's how it seemed in the begining.
I really don't want to get into too much detail, but let's just say that the Germans are great at many things, but labeling roads is NOT one of them. Of course it would have helped if Kendra and I stuck to the main roads, but we decided that since we have a car and time to waste, we may as well take the scenic route. Well, several u-turns, cursing fits of rage, and a few hours behind schedule we pulled into Dresden at about midnight, and we were finally able to find the apartment at about 2am. Instead of waking up the people who had the keys we spend the night in the car. How's that for excitment?
The night in the care was so cold. We didn't have any blankets, pillows, sleeping bags, or heavy winter clothing. But we made it through most of the night and were able to get into the apartment at about 7am. The next 10 days or so would be spent in what to us is that lap of luxury. An apartment all to ourselves, phone numbers of people who would be willing to help us, a map of the tram/bus system, and a Dresden guide book. It was wonderful, relaxing, and just what the doctor had ordered.
Not much happened during these ten days. We just did a lot of relaxing and soaking in of the Western world. We did do quite a bit of exploring. The things that stand out the most were the christmas markets and the architecture. (I'll try to post some pictures later. Morocco doesn't seem to want to give up that much bandwidth right now)
We also made a great new friend. Laquas left a phone number for one of Jeans co-workers, Chee Wan. So we called Chee Wan and had a blast. She showed us some really cool stuff in Dresden, took us out for drinks (3 Belgian beers = BAD) and then led us to an amazing Taiwanese restaurant on our last night there. We spent 3 days with her and had such a blast. Thanks Chee Wan!!!!
posted by Doug at 10:26 AM
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