Sunday, June 7

Sunday was a day of travel. Having woken up and packed much far more effectively than the previous day the group was off to the other train station in Prague to start the journey back to Bremen. Despite the long trip ahead of us, spirits were high within the group. The first leg of the journey took us through more of the beautiful Czech countryside we had observed the previous day. As we approached the Czech-German boarder we discussed the history of the area, specifically during World War 2. It was hard to imagine a time in when the beautiful green mountains we saw were a point of such contention, especially considering how we were able to breeze across the border, with no sign of change other than the language on the signs, and an old, abandoned border control station. We also got to see some beautiful manmade scenery. The castles of the Saxony sat on mountain tops looking over rivers. It was at this point that I think we all became excited to get to Dresden. Finally arriving in Dresden we were greeted with a rather unexpected site, a gay pride celebration, Christopher Street Day, in what is known as a very conservative city. With all our presumptions already questioned, we continued along our way to the old city, most of it rebuilt, to gaze at some of Germany's most handsome buildings. The buildings in Dresden exceeded expectations, but one could not help but be saddened by all of the other buildings that were never rebuilt, those that were lost. The stark contrast between the old city and the surrounding, post-war Eastern Bloc style architecture created a sad, lonely beauty for the older buildings. We continued on our way through Germany, from east to west, and south to north. The highlight of the remainder of our trip, other than the size of the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, was Stephens impromptu knitting lesson from a fellow train passenger. Finally entering Bremen, after a long day of travel, and a long weekend of great experiences, we had one last Döner before heading our separate ways.