* * * Short(er) version of this available here. * * *

My summer holiday started on the last day of June. I stayed in Lüneburg for half of that day, because there was a BBQ party for people of my theater. -And my ego can't pass up on a chance to show off my cooking skills. (So I brought a few spanacopita, some marinated chicken, and a huge fruit salad, in the shell of a watermelon. Oh, and the ingredients for a truly tasty shot, -alcoholic shot.) It was a nice party, and good food, and it really was a pity that I had to go after only a couple of hours. Well, it was my choice to go. But it was a choice that I couldn't make any other way: My Love, My sweet, my most wonderful Pamela would be in Detmold at her parent's house that evening. So I had to be there too. (Meaning that I took the train, and stayed the weekend there with her.)

At the end of that weekend, (I'm passing over the weekend because the only things I have to say about it were that we went one morning swimming, and we tried to learn a bit of ballroom dancing.) So, on Monday morning, I went with the father half way to Berlin, and then caught a train to Dresden. And that will be the subject of the next couple thousand words, because I spent a whole week there, and saw quite a few things.

DRESDEN

I arrived on the train at about four in the afternoon, and went straight to the youth hostel. It turned out to be a particularly good hostel, which I'd recommend to anyone planning on staying in Dresden. It's called Lollis Homestay. It's pretty close to the middle of Neustadt, (a part of the city.) And anyone going there really must ask them about museums. They were a fabulous help!

So, I left my things there, and then went to the center; To the old palace with a square in it, called Zwinger, to meet Anna. Anna is the whole reason I wanted to go to Dresden; She was my best friend in Estonia, and then she went to Germany, (she's also a ballet dancer.) And we've both been in Germany for the last three years, but haven't seen each other except for once by chance: bumping into her at an audition in Braunschweig, and having all of ten minutes to talk, as we walked to the train station afterwards.

So, we've been saying for the last three years that we had to get together and talk, but never found a time when we were each free. (Or even a time when one of us was free and the other didn't have a killer work load.) So... I have time this summer, and she... well, does have a pretty killer work load. But I'd decided not to go on waiting for an ideal time which would never come. ANYHOW... I went to this Zwinger Palace place, because there was an outdoor stage set up there, where Anna was performing... five times a week, for the whole month.

Looking for the way backstage, (well, to the part of the palace they were using as dressing rooms,) I asked the first dancer type person I met where Anna could be found. And the person I asked turned out to be one of Anna's best friends: Alexis. So she said, "Oh! You must be Matthew." So, I met Alexis and then Anna, and talked with them a bit before going to find a place in the audience. It was a bit of a short program, with a mixed repertoire: One abbreviated version of a longer piece, and two shorter works, all together lasting an hour and a half. And the style was... neo-classic, perhaps shading towards modern. But like every piece of that style, it was unique to this one choreographer, so there's not much I can say about it.

So... after the performance, Anna, Alexis and I went out to have... dinner. Or just a Coffee, (so to speak: I never drink coffee myself.) It's hard to say, because in the week I was there, we went out most nights after the performance. And I think that now I've found a way to get out of my over exacting chronological ordering of events. This is a very good thing, because I mean for the telling of the last two weeks to take up less than 100 pages.)

So, in general, I spent this week looking around Dresden, and watching a performance in the evening, and seeing some friends afterwards. Oh, and I took ballet class with the company on most of the mornings too. The style was a bit difficult for me to get used to, but by the end of the week I felt that I could work a bit on my technique. Some of the walking around that I did during the daytime was... too hot. That's all there is to say about it. For nearly the whole week, it was 30 degrees C. in the shade. Or warmer. I only changed my shorts for my long trousers twice, and both times regretted it.

Around the middle of the week, I left the hostel. Although Anna would have liked to put me up, (That's the right expression, isn't it? But it sounds so close to "put up with me.") Her place was too small for that to work. However, Alexis and I became good friends easily, and so I went and slept at her place, (which was also in Neustadt, near to where I was staying already.) How do I describe Alexis? Well, she's something around 20 years old, also a dancer, comes from the states, but did a large part of her training in Toronto, (we were never in the school there at the same time, but we still know many of the same people.) Our personalities are just somehow sympathetic, and we are well able to understand one another.

There came a day, that there wasn't a performance or ballet class, and we went to a different friend's place for a small BBQ. That was certainly tastey, and relaxing, but I left early to go to the center; It was the long night of the Museums. This is a thing that many German cities have once a year. People can buy an inexpensive Museum pass, that is good for only this one evening, but will allow entrance into all of the museums, which are all open, (this one night of the year,) from sometime in the afternoon, until some point after midnight.

So, I didn't want to miss this opportunity. One thing that made the opportunity even more valuable, was the fact that this very evening, Germany was playing in the World Cup, (soccer.) This meant that the crowds, which would usually make the Museum night too packed to see things comfortably, would be mostly watching the game. So, I went to... The Green Vault (the Royal collection of jewelry, and precious... things,) up the tower of the castle, to look over the city, and then into the "Old Masters" museum, to see (among other things,) the Sixtinische Madonna by Raffael.

I know that I've only listed two museums here, but I only got into the city at 9:30 in the evening. Also, I'd seen a number of other museums in the first few days; A museum of sculpture, a museum of mathematics, physics, and measurement, (don't laugh! It's not funny! In the ancient years, only the rich could indulge time in pure mathematics, and precision measurements. So the antique rulers they had were very decorative and beautiful!!! Not to mention their sets of scales, magnifying lenses, and so on. But I'm teasing you. There were more impressive things than that: old globes, and charts of stars, which were made by master craftsmen. Also the Time measuring devices: starting with hour glasses, and getting up to precision pendulum clocks. And clocks were another thing which were the exclusive property of the very rich, so they were more than highly decorative. Let me assure you of that!)

I also went to the Porcelain collection. This was started by Augustus the strong, King of Saxony, (around 300 years ago. He's one of those grand and famous royals that's made into a hero of the country.) A third of the porcelain was imports from the orient, (with an explanation of how political turmoil in China led to the creation of the porcelain trade in Japan and Korea.) The rest of the collection was the local Meissen. That sounds wrong; as if I was saying "the rest was only some local, unimpressive, second rate attempt at porcelain." Meissen is one of the world's best porcelain makers. They have extreme standards of quality. (I've heard that a painter must study for Three Years, before being allowed to produce one single design for Meissen. How's that for exacting standards?)

Anyhow, in this collection were mostly objects that were made by the original founders of Meissen, nearly 300 years ago. And half of them were special orders from King Augustus himself. These included meter high Animals, (Rhinos, Wolfs, Monkeys, Assorted birds, and so on) which were to decorate one of the royal palaces. So, that was the Porcelain collection.

While I was in Dresden, I never made it to the collection of Armour though. (Which had the amusing name of "Rustcammer" or Rust Chamber.) Getting back to the night of Museums, however, I should say that after the last museum closed, I met up with Anna and Alexis again, and we then greeted an old friend of Alexis's. He came from Toronto, and was in Europe, and Just had to go and see Alexis, (it's been many years since they last met.) So he was also staying at her place, and we were having a right interesting time then. Of course, we had to go out even more, so that he would have a chance to see the city too.

Was there anything else to tell about it Dresden though? I found time to see the Church of the Cross, the Catholic Church, and the Frauenkirche, (Which was being rebuilt until last year.) That was actually a bit of a let down though; It's exceedingly famous. It's the best known symbol of Dresden... and I didn't think much of it. The form was unusual for a church, (and that made it a bit interesting,) but the general feeling, and the colours it used... didn't do anything for me. (Part of my lack of appreciation could have also been that I was there with a few hundred other tourists all around me. And that situation makes it hard for any place to look like more than a tourist attraction.)

Hmmmm... So in Dresden, I saw Museums, Churches, and buildings. I took Ballet classes, watched performances, met Alexis, and then her friend too, and went to cafés, bars, and restaurants. It was totally fabulous to see Anna again, and to talk about... well, everything with her. And I hope that I have a chance to go back again for a few days in the next year.