Day 6 - Dresden
This morning brought us to the Dresden offices of the Goethe Institute to listen to four Jewish women speak about their lives in Germany today. 3 of the 4 women were immigrants from Eastern Europe, which gave us the point of view of immigrant Jews also. They spoke of the racism and discrimination that they have experienced here and their sense that sentiment was rising. Apparently, although much has been done to lessen these experiences in Germany, the women have found it especially difficult to find good job opportunities here because of their limited German language skills. The group that they were representing, the Jewish Women Association helps them with life stuff. Their stories were not so much about how they've had difficulties, but how they've come together to make things easier for one another.
In the afternoon, we rented bikes and took a bike ride own the Elbe River to a castle for lunch. I asked how far the ride was and our guide, Garrit, said it was about four kilometers, so about two miles. Be sure never to trust people concerning metric to English conversions, especially guides that have been on that trip in a while! It ended up being 16-20 kilometers round trip, which is somewhere between 10-12 miles and up hill on the way to the castle! The ride was beautiful and bike path we used was paved, we even had to take them across the river on a ferry. Of course, lunch at a castle is always cool, but when the waiter told us that a big storm was hitting in 30 minutes, we gulped down our lunch and tried to beat the storm back. The storm hit us about three-quarters of the way back and I thought it was refreshing because it's been rather warm here. Remind me to tell you about the lack of air conditioning in Germany 
sometime! I was able to make my way back to the bike shop successfully, but not so for three of our party, including our group leader, who all crashed their bikes on the way back. Steve, our group leader, has injured his right knee and ankle the worst of the bunch, so we'll have to see if he heals okay or if this is going to hurt him as the trip continues. Got to go pack, it's off to Munich tomorrow!
In the afternoon, we rented bikes and took a bike ride own the Elbe River to a castle for lunch. I asked how far the ride was and our guide, Garrit, said it was about four kilometers, so about two miles. Be sure never to trust people concerning metric to English conversions, especially guides that have been on that trip in a while! It ended up being 16-20 kilometers round trip, which is somewhere between 10-12 miles and up hill on the way to the castle! The ride was beautiful and bike path we used was paved, we even had to take them across the river on a ferry. Of course, lunch at a castle is always cool, but when the waiter told us that a big storm was hitting in 30 minutes, we gulped down our lunch and tried to beat the storm back. The storm hit us about three-quarters of the way back and I thought it was refreshing because it's been rather warm here. Remind me to tell you about the lack of air conditioning in Germany 
sometime! I was able to make my way back to the bike shop successfully, but not so for three of our party, including our group leader, who all crashed their bikes on the way back. Steve, our group leader, has injured his right knee and ankle the worst of the bunch, so we'll have to see if he heals okay or if this is going to hurt him as the trip continues. Got to go pack, it's off to Munich tomorrow!
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