Into the Heide

If there is one thing that Germany is famous for, it is their forrests.  We decided that enough time had been spent in cities, and it was high time to check out the woods.  But first, how to get there?  As with all logistical questions so far on the trip the answer was of course, public transit.  After studying both the train/bus map as well as a handy pocket street map (paper GPS for those of you who are super plugged-in) we determined that it was easy enough to hop on the train near Peggy and Thomas' house and then snag a bus a little closer the Elbe.  To get across the river it is possible to take the bus as well, but seeing as we were face to face with "The Blue Wonder" we decided to burn some calories and hoof it the rest of the way.  Now some of you may be thinking, "what the devil is the blue wonder?"  Good question.  Until a few days ago I had never heard of the thing myself.  But first, some folklore (or perhaps common knowledge might be more accurate) of the German variety. 

In Saxony (the name for the region of Germany in which Dresden resides), there is a term known as a 'blue wonder', which in essence is something unexpected that makes you take a step back, perhaps utter some colorful metaphores, sctratch your head and think, "there's something that doesn't happen every day".  One might compare it similarly to the expression in english of a blue moon.  And now back to the story.

Well, the Dresdners built this bridge so they could, like, you know, cross the river and stuff.  Maybe the boatman who operated the ferry was mean or they just got tired of swimming the thing, who knows.  Anyway, according to legend, when the bridge was finished they painted it green, but it for whatever reason, be it oxidation of the paint, aliens or voodoo magic (I'm not saying it was aliens... but it was aliens), the green bridge one day turned blue.  Thus, the bridge was in more ways than one a 'blue wonder'.  Ever since, they've painted it blue, gave it the name Blue Wonder and there was much rejoicing.

Here is a view from the Blue Wonder of the Elbe and the lovely houses on the other side.  Also, the side of my head.

Once we made it to the other side of the river, we headed uphill towards the Heide (the forrest) and found a quaint little cobblestone path leading into some houses etc.  Now, these houses were very, very nice with lovely little gardens and historic plaques and such things of that variety; the high rent distric if you will.  Turns out, the path gets wicked steep and was quite a workout to traverse, leading Matt and I to believe that this would be less than ideal to use in the winter or fall or really under any seasonal or weather related condition that would cause it to be slippery, which considering the climate would be like 80% of the time.  

An example of the quality housing we were hiking past.  You may be able to see some of the red flowers on the left side of the picture.  The Germans often have wonderful gardens in lieu of a lawn.  Also note the path we were walking on in the foreground.  The slope was roughly 45 degrees.  We later realized that some of the residences were only accessable via said path and being as some of those who live here are elderly it seemed to me like a hip insurance nightmare senario.

As we hit the plateau of the hill we came across Zeppelin Street (strasse auf Deutch).  Yes, as in Graf von Zeppelin the famous nobleman; he was kind of a big deal.  This further cemented the reality that some of these folks might in fact also be proud owners of brand new VW Phaetons and or monocles (insert over-the-top rich guy laugh here).

Once we crested the hill it was easy walking all the way to the forrest.  Very much like the forrests of home, it did not disappoint.  The major difference was that here in Germany the 'paths' could be considered streets by some standards.  Very well ordered and maintained, the trailmanship (I know, it's a stretch) left nary a branch to be swatted out of the way.  The other thing I was struck by was just how OLD the forrest and the trails were; even the little creeks running through had their own stone trenches to trickle in which were established enough to accumulate wear from erosion.

Check out the 'trails'.

Beautiful evergreens were everywhere and made me a tiny bit homesick.

If you look closely, you can see that the stream is in fact running through a stone canal/trench; this was true of all the running water we came across in the Heide.

Every so often you stumble upon a little wooden shanty looking building with a picknick table out front.  Very handy in case of sudden onset of bad weather or hunger.

After a few solid hours of hiking in the woods, it was time to turn around and head back towards the city so we wouldn't be late for dinner.  Magdalena, Stefan and family had invited us over to their place that evening for some immensely tastey German cooking (I forget the name but it involved a ton of cheese, dough pieces, fried onions and bacon cooked together in a casserole dish).  Once we made it back out of the forrest, Matt, with his knack for keen observations (a talent that has come in handy more than once this trip) saw signs for a cog-rail train that could take us down the hill.  After a brief discussion we agreed that it sounded like a grand old time, and much safer than walking back down the cobblestone path so we set out to find it.  As it turned out, the weekly passes we had purchased to get around the city's public transportation system were also valid on the train, so it did not cost us additionally.



This is your sign.

After a brief search we found the entrance to the cog railway.

Our ride to the bottom.

Down we go!

After sharing a short trip in the rail car with some old folks, one perturbed baby and his tired mama, we made to the bottom.

My dear friend and trusty travel companion Matt had one more great idea before we headed back into the city. You see folks, Matt had a hankerin'; this time for an iced coffee and as tends to happen with hankerin's, once he shared this information with me, I too was in dire need of an iced coffee.  But do they even have iced coffee in Germany?  I was skeptical because they don't even have iced water.  However, since the cog train had shaved some time off our journey back to base we endeavored to investigate.  It wasn't long before we noticed that almsot directly across the street there just so happened to be a little cafe/bakery; so we went in.  Much to our joy we found on the menu "eis kaffee" which sounded about as close to "iced coffee" as we could have hoped for, so we ordered two.  However, we did not get iced coffee as we know it in the US.  This tastey treat was more like a coffee float.  There was vanilla icecream in the bottom with coffee poured over it, topped off with a steamed cream dollop.  Needless to say, it was amazing.  Saddly, by the time it dawned on us to take a picture of this pleasant surprise we had already consigned it to its digestive fate :).  With our legs rested and our spirits renewed we jumped on the 61 bus and rode it all the way back to our home station where we proceded to Magdalena and Stefans for yet more yummy eats. 

I will be posting about our other Dresden adventures soon.  Tomorrow we head to the city of Erfurt to visit our old friend Toby for the day.

Until next time,

John and Matt