Das Ende

Liebe Dresden,
es war vor fast vier Jahren, daß wir hier umgezogen sind.  Ich hatte dann so viel Angst vor dir. Du schienst mir gross und fremd und kalt. Aber du bist meine zu Hause geworden. Hier bin ich gewachst und verändert. Hier bin ich Mutter geworden. Und ich habe jetzt das Gefuhl, daß ich dich ziemlich gut verstehe. Immer werde ich eine Verbindung mit dir haben. Und immer werde ich dich liebhaben.

Auf Wiedersehen, Dresden. Bis nächstes mal.

Deine,



JEM

The Lasts

 our last Silvester

Today is our last full day in Dresden. Tomorrow we'll turn over our keys and drive to Frankfurt, and on Thursday we'll fly back to America. I've cried so much the last few days that I think I've literally run out of tears. Strangely, I think the last time I cried so much was when we first got here, and fear and loneliness and homesickness put me in a rough place for a few weeks. If only I could've known then how much my heart would break when the time came to leave. Here are just a few of the "lasts" from our final week in Dresden.

Our last walk around the neighborhood

Our last party with Jake's group

 

 Our last brush with German bureaucracy

One last sneaky photo of wild German hair

 Our last stroll down Prager Straße

 Our last walk through the Altstadt

 Our last walk home from church

 

Our last snow

Jethro's last visit to the train station (his favorite place in the world)

Our last bus ride

 Our last tram ride

  

And finally, our last farewells to friends

 

 

Zu unseren Freunde hier in Dresden, ich möchte euch danken. Danke für eure Freundschaft und Geduld. Danke für alles, was ihr für uns gemacht habt. Wir werden euch ganz stark vermissen, und wir werden oft an euch denken. Gott segne euch.



JEM

Grosser Garten

 

Last November Jethro and I took our last bike ride through Grosser Garten before the snow came.  I think for the rest of my life as I'm falling asleep I will go back to that day, with the crisp autumn air and leaves crunching under Vicky's tires and Jethro happily chirping in his seat behind me as we rode over the quiet, empty trails and golden leaves drifted to the ground all around us. It was one of the most perfect moments I can remember. 

 

There are so many places in Dresden that I will miss that I couldn't begin to count them, but at the very top of the list would be this park. I hope that when I die I find that Heaven has a park just like this one.

JEM

Verkehrsmuseum!!!

For Jethro's second birthday we decided to check out Dresden's Verkehrsmuseum (transportation museum). If you're coming to Dresden and you have a boy (or man) who will find looking at Renaissance art for three hours boring, here is a fine cultural alternative.

There are cars!

 Airplanes!

Humungous engines!

 Trains!

 Motorcycles!

 

Old trams!

 

Boats!

(we didn't get any good pictures of boats)

My men were in hog heaven. And for me there were lots of creepy mannequins to be startled by.

 

So it's not the Louvre. But we loved it.

JEM

Schwebebahn!!!

For my first birthday here (my 24th, which seems like a very long time ago) some of our then-new friends gave me two tickets to ride the Dresden Schwebebahn, the world's oldest suspension railway. Naturally we procrastinated/forgot until last October, over three years later, when upon our arrival to the base of the Schwebebahn, I discovered I'd left the tickets sitting on the dresser. (Thanks, anyway, Benjamin and Susi. It was still a really thoughtful gift.)

 

The Schwebebahn climbs 273 meters up the western lip of the ridge that surrounds Dresden.

The ride is really fun.

And the view at the top is amazing.

Come to Dresden and ride the Schwebebahn. The end.

And for future appearances of my black "leather" jacket, please read the Alpine Line, who's author inherited it over New Year's.



JEM