Saxon hiking and brooding, 1999

Saxon sandstone
(stock photo)

Aw, why not.  Excerpts from my travel journal from Central Europe, September 1999.

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Thursday, September 9 -- 10:50 a.m. [en route to Wehlen, outside Dresden]

Looks like a beautiful day and should be pretty hiking in what "Let's Go" says is called Sächsen Schweiz -- Saxon Switzerland.

Wandered all around Dresden yesterday after getting a room in the Neustadt, or New City.  Ironic in that I had congratulated myself for not following the herd and getting off at Dresden Neustadt station, but staying on the train to the Hbf.  The woman in the hotel office told me that the cheapest room in the old city area ("Altstadt") was DM 130, but that I could get a room in the Neustadt for DM 65 -- which I did, mastering the Dresden tram system in the process.

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Thursday, September 9 -- 2:00 p.m. [Rathen, Germany]  

I'm sitting on a café terrace in Rathen, overlooking the Elbe.  Having failed to get my waiter's attention, permitting me to pay for my ice cream delight and coffee, I'll take advantage of the time to do a little writing.

Got off the S-Bahn in Wehlen, and moved onto a tiny ferry which crossed the Elbe -- it seemed to drift across -- to Wehlen Stadt, a small village.  Took a path up into the Bastei -- the sandstone cliffs along the river.  Beautiful Black Forest type forests -- heavy canopy of deciduous trees with just a touch of autumn in their leaves -- and with some evergreens mixed in.  Hansel and Gretel scenery --thick trees but virtually no undergrowth.  Steep path for quite awhile, then level along the plateau.  Finally, a steep descent on stairs cut in the sandstone and a few metal stairways through weird sandstone chasms.  Very dramatic and attractive.  Ended up here in Rathen, a larger tourist village, also connected by ferry to the S-Bahn across the Elbe.

Having fattened myself up and ingested some caffeine, I plan now to continue up-river to Hohnstein, and then either come back here or on to the next S-Bahn stop, depending on how much time it takes.

View from here is magnificent -- river traffic, chateau-like buildings across the river, and steep sandstone cliffs on this side off to my right.  If I don't get my check soon, I could doze off here at my table until dinner!

Thursday, September 9 -- 3:15 p.m. [en route to Hohnstein, Germany]

Once past the beginning of the trail, this path was deserted.  Me, all alone -- walking through a fairyland of rocks and deciduous trees.  A long valley, a wide trail, and a babbling stream to keep me company.  I've climbed up onto a boulder overlooking the stream to relax and write this entry.

I feel like a good Aryan of Saxony, drinking in the beauty of the Fatherland.

And having lugubrious Saxon thoughts.  Twenty years ago, sitting on High Divide looking out over the Olympics, I told Jim Bethel we probably would never sit in that same location again, admiring the dazzling beauty.  Now, I think this is probably the first and last time I'll ever be anywhere at all in Saxony.

A few more years and I may be saying the same thing about the whole of Germany, although Europe is so accessible that there may always be the chance of yet another visit, barring knowledge of some fatal disease.  I probably always will be able to anticipate another visit to Italy, for example, where I can sit in a café, sipping wine, cursing the changes in the country since I first saw the "real" Italy of 1961, and wondering why the hell the sun isn't as warm as it used to be.

Oh well -- Hohnstein lies ahead for now.  Onward and upward.  

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My next entry is from Dresden, at 7 p.m., so I apparently made it safely back!