theatre of the absurd: Dresden, part I

Dresden was gorgeous. It simply wasn't one of my favourite places.

My cold took a significant turn for the better whilst I was there, although I still coughed/sneezed my way through sleep. The hostel was nice, but everyone who worked there looked like hippies. I still can't get used to bubblegum pink hair completely shaved on one side, dreadlocks on a girl and more than 5 piercings on one person at a time (not including earrings).

It was rather late when I arrived there, as I mentioned in my previous entry. I wandered around for a good fifteen or twenty minutes, looking for the hostel whilst silently freaking out. There were NO nightlights whatsoever, everything was deadly quiet, and it felt as if I were the only person left on the face of the earth. Then a lady came cycling by. I asked her if she could speak English, she smiled and said "You must be looking for the _____ Hostel," and pointed me in the right direction. "You're nearly there, another three minutes that way," was music to my ears.

The hostel itself was homely enough although the WiFi reception was terrible. I remember this kitchen fondly.

I had to pay a tourist tax for Dresden, which I did not care for. I also had to pay one in Salzburg and Fussen. The tax in Fussen was exorbitant - 2.20 euros of all things. They must think that tourists are made out of money. I'll talk about how cross I was about Fussen's tourist tax if I ever get there.

My stay in Dresden was astonishingly uneventful. Didn't meet anyone at all. My room was a four-person bedroom, and the hostel was one of those annoying places which make you pay extra for "linen." When I got there, the lights had already been turned off despite the fact that it was only 22:30. Actually, I'm googling this as I speak and what do you know, turns out that a few people think it's an unwritten rule to turn off the lights after 2200. I respectfully beg to differ - midnight, for sure, 2300 even - but 2200 seems to be pushing the envelope. In fact, I would go so far as to say that turning off the lights too EARLY is another form of impoliteness.

Allow me to delineate for a moment. I was reading quite a few entries on hostel etiquette and it's really quite remarkable what earplugs can do. Many a time I've gone to bed in a twelve person dorm and woken up at 9 to find that they all packed and left at an indeterminable time. Have also come back to some very bad snorers who could probably outsnore an elephant orchestra, but once I plug in my earplugs I'm dead to the world. I've said it before and I'll say it again - the person who invented earplugs deserves a Nobel Prize.

I went out the next day at around 10. The weather was gorgeous, the sky was the colour of speedwells, and my cold was getting progressively better. Life was good!