StadtFest in Dresden - 16.8.2009

I had a few comments that there were no pictures of me, so i will try to add some.

Last night we went back to StadtFest.

On our walk down they had a parade of all the boats on the river and later they had fireworks. Fireworks didn’t start until 10:45, which was a bit later then we expected.

As we waited for the fireworks there we say a large concern across the river (we couldn't figure out the group), all the boats dock (they come from upstream and wildly swing around to part in there spots), and all sorts of going ons.

Right at 10:45 all the boats sounded there whistles and horns (about 15 large boats) then the fireworks began. We really enjoyed the firework and after the finaly the horns all sounded off again.

We had a perfect spot right over the river from a walkway about 3 stories above the lower path on the rivers edge right across the river from the launch spot.

StadtFest in Dresden - 15.8.2009

Here are some pictures from StadtFest. For a lot more pictures click on the link below: you can click through the images, and some have captions: http://picasaweb.google.com/keith.gardner.mn/StadtFestInDresden1582009?feat=directlink

Friday night at the beer garden

Right on the edge of the Elbe there is a popular beer garden, on friday we finally managed to make it and had a relaxing and fun dinner. We had a glass of wine, i of course had a couple beers, and Noah had ein afpel soft (which he ordered and payed for on his own for the first time - "Ich habe ein afpel soft bitte"). This is a very family friendly beer garden that also serves grilled food, we had the steak and potatoes, and brats. It was a very relaxing and great night. Afterwards we wondered down the Elbe and found the Stadtfest which is a big fall festival in AltStadt (old downtown) we all had so much fun that we are going to go again tonight.

Castles on the Elbe, our new walk

Melissa and i really like to take an after dinner walk, sometimes it ends up at night; here are a few castles that are along our new walk. Also this is the bank where these castles reside are some vineyards, you can see them on the hillsides below some of the castles.

Apartment and money next hurdles

Apartment and money next hurdles:

We found an apartment we like now we have to figure out how to rent it. This is our next hurdle. We have to get money in to our German bank account if our account is open. It takes up to 7 days to get an account created and we opened it last Tuesday. In order to rent an apartment you have to have like 2 months deposit and you have to pay a finders fee. This apartment had ‘VB’ for the finders’ fee which we think means ‘negotiable’. We will see what that means.

Melissa also forgot to pack our checkbooks so we are having Frank (her dad) wire money into our account (again hopefully our account is open) and we will transfer our money into his bank account. To do your first wire transfer to a account you must be at your bank in person.

Here are some pictures of the place we are trying to rent. If you left click on the images you will see a much bigger image, also i have pointed to our place in these pictures.

It is in a very happening place in the historic part of AltStadt. It is located right in the middle of some very historic buildings. Here is a link I found that give some information about this area:

http://www.tompgalvin.com/places/de/sachsen/dresden_as.htm

Sight seeing

After a long week of work, looking for apartments, getting bank accounts, and getting settled we finally had some time to do a bit of sightseeing.

Here are some pictures including Kate having a strawberry Daquri (Drinking age is 16 for beer and wine, 18 for hard stuff).

Where we are staying

Here is where we are staying in dresden. The inside, outside, and Melissa in front of the Max Planck

Intro:

Melissa has decided do a post doc in Dresden and we have decided to follow her this blog is about our adventures.