Dresden!

I made it safely to Dresden! Who would have thought I would have become such a master of the German train system?! (just a sidenote: it rocks! soooo easy to figure out thank goodness). As soon as I arrived, I fell in love with the city. I stayed in the center, which was super close to the old town. The buildings had SO much character, and there was such a rich history that it was instantly one of my favorite places. I took a little walk around the city but stayed pretty close to my hotel. 

I met a girl named Anna who I played against at Gonzaga who happens to be playing in Dresden this season. It was nice to meet yet another american and hear her story. She had two american teammates, so we all met up for dinner and had a great time. We at at a “california buffet” and it had garlic bread, pizza, and hamburgers. oh yea--and a “sacramento salad” (it had salmon and the owner told us all that in sacramento they have the most salmon in the world...i’ll store that fact in my brain’s attic until I need it again--which i’m guessing is never). 

The next day Anna had a match so she was busy doing pregame things so I walked around Dresden on my own. The city was AWESOME! 

[[[just as yet another history lesson, Americans destroyed the city during World War II, but those crafty Germans rebuilt it! Now every building in the old town is built to look exactly like the original, and pretty much half of each building is new, and half is what was left standing. For all of you readers, this is the book that Slaughterhouse 5 is about]]] 

It had soo much history and that European charm that you know I love so much. The buildings all had domed tops, extravagant carvings, statues galore etc. I think that’s the euro way and I love every bit of it. Here’s part of the old town:

isn't it gorgeous?! 

I met up with Anna for lunch (which was good timing because this was just about the time I needed to thaw out) and we went to an italian restaurant with delicious pasta. It was a great life decision. After that, she had to leave to start preparing for the match and I went back to the hotel and took a little nap before I headed to the game. 

Anna’s team was playing a team from Krasnodar, Russia, which happened to be the team that Cynthia Barboza is playing for and she also had a Brazilian teammate. Both teams played well, but the team from Russia won in three sets. They play each other again in Russia sometime soon (I’ll keep you posted on the results if I remember). After that we picked up the Russia girls and went to a tapas bar in the city. It was nice to talk about volleyball and the funny things we’ve experienced while playing overseas. It was also awesome to speak in speedy, slangy english and be completely understood! Those girls all had to wake up early so I headed back to my hotel to pack up for the train to Prague in the morning.