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| Erin's Journal for 9-22-02 Sunday was our day to go to Saxony-Switzerland. We knew a couple of the guys from our shuttle from Berlin wanted to go too, and we found them downstairs after getting ready to go. They were almost ready, and when we all met up at the door, had brought along two friends. So the 6 of us (Colin, Ryan, Kelly, Fanny, Glenn and me!) headed off to the train station. It was another gloomy day out, so we worried that the scenery wouldn't be as good, but what the heck! The train ride was painless, although we did find out from the conductor that we'd have to switch trains (unscheduled) before reaching the station at Pirna where we'd meet a bus to take us the rest of the way. We chatted about our various travels and read books during the 45 minute train(s) ride, and due to that little delay of changing over, we missed the bus. Another one came 20 minutes later, but was then REALLY crowded due to picking up two trainloads instead of one. We rode about a half hour into the countryside, which was very lush and green, before reaching the first stop at Bastei. This was where the incredible rock bridges were, but we went on to Konigstein first, thinking we'd hit Bastei on the way back. We got to the stop at Konigstein around 1:30, and followed signs to a steep staircase up the mountain. Ok, we said, we'll do it! So in the rain, we trudged uphill along stairs and rocky trails for almost 45 minutes before reaching the top and the castle! We were pretty winded, although Colin and Ryan had left us near the top to explore a cave they saw. (They're the youngest among us and ran for some intervals of the climb!!!) The castle was pretty big, and we still had to take an elevator up inside the rock face to get to the castle proper after we paid. The views from here were stunning, although it was hard to capture them with my non-professional camera. We got some reasonable shots (this was the point where I discovered that all my Berlin photos were gone). We wandered around the place for a few hours, grabbed some hot yummy bean soup and beer for lunch, then took the elevator down to catch the shuttle that runs up and down the hill ( we'd missed it going up, and we missed it again on the way down!!!). The thing left about 30 seconds before we got down there, and we didn't want to wait since it was already after 4, so we hiked back down the hill. It was much faster than going up, but still taxing. By the time we reached the bus stop, Kelly was talking about going straight back to Dresden instead of stopping off at the scenic Bastei. Slowly but surely, her logic infected the rest of us as we thought about having hot chocolate, sitting in a warm hostel bed reading, etc. So we all ended up skipping Bastei - if we had gone then, we wouldn't have made it back until after 9pm. This way we got back a little before 7! We rode the train through a rainstorm on the way back and were just as glad to be inside for that! After returning to drop off the daypack, we picked up some local cuisine and brought it back to the hostel to eat while watching the end of the German elections. Then we retired upstairs where the same lady who'd been sleeping when we got in last night (and who was still sleeping when we left this morning around 10:30am) was already in bed again, and it wasn't even 8pm! So we sat in the small sitting area outside our door and typed journals, talked to passing travelers, and read until we got tired. |
| Konigstein was strategically placed to give excellent defense, both due to natural placement and heavy firepower! |