Hours driven: 4
Times I thought about being thankful to not be driving in CZ any more: 10
Times I was thankful for German engineering: 15
Tunnels: 12
Ice cream scoops: 1
Successful parking jobs: 1
Strange German hotels: 1
Drunk German hotel reception dude: 1 (at 3PM no less - go big or go home!)
Strange smells in hotel: too many to count
Lack of hair dryers: 1 (and none in Prague! that's 6 days straight)
Hunting of the roots trips: 1
Wendish meals: 1
Strange signs in Wendish: Everywhere
This day was highlighted by the fact that we only had a short distance to go, but we got out of the madness in Prague and CZ fairly quickly. This is what most of the drive looked like:
Bautzen was the destination and for those that don't know, Bautzen is in the center of Sorbian country, which is the one and only indigenous tribe to Germany. My mom is 100% Sorbian (or as it's called in the states and Australia - Wendish).
We first found a parking spot at a mall and walked into the center of town for food. The place to go was a café recommended by RS AND Lonely planet. Not often do the two overlap, but in this case, we were in luck. The place served traditional Sorbian food, which if my family reunions are any indication, should be amazing and definitely have noodles. The food was good, just not what I expected. I had the traditional wedding feast, which was essentially roast beef with horseradish sauce, potatoes and green beans. It was very good, but I will say that the Wends in Texas make better food. We were treated to a nice waitress who spoke Sorbian (Wendish) and explained a bit about the area as well. All and all, a good experience. We then went to the TI where they extracted a Euro for a dinky English map of the city....not recommended. All of the buildings are labeled and it would be much more fun to just wander the city. Or look at a city map like this one:
However, with our map in hand, we headed in the direction of the Sorbian museum.
First, we saw the Lutheran/Catholic church. I believe this is the only church in Germany that functions as both a Lutheran and Catholic church with separate worship times for each:
Where the convent still is today:
The Sorbian museum was disappointing. All of the signage was in German and Sorbian and no one in the museum spoke any English. I'm still not entirely sure what I bought a ticket for - the lady kept speaking to me louder and louder in German as if this would help. I now understand why this is acutely annoying when Americans do it to other people (not that I didn't understand before - just personal experience really drives the point home). The museum had some displays of what traditional Sorbian clothing was and a small section on Jan Kilian's exodus from Germany to Texas in the 1850s which carried my ancestors to the promised land:
A few comments on that last sign. A) I didn't know Noack was a town. B) I've been to all of the rest and a few are near and dear to my heart. C) Serbin doesn't get a mention? D) Never did I think I'd see the town Loebau listed in a museum in Germany. That town has 4 people in it!
Proof that we went:
After that, we wandered the town a bit more, got some ice cream and generally just enjoyed the ambience. What a great little town. After that, it was on to the hotel, where I had the worst reception experience I've had in all of Europe. First, when I came to the door, it wouldn't open. Apparently it was under construction and I saw no other way to get in. After 15 minutes of waiting while I pushed the buzzer, the reception guy came over in jeans and a polo with NO SHOES or socks (gross) and smelling of yesterday's alcohol, with today's in his hands. He was already feeling pretty good - his construction buddy had called it a day early so they were enjoying the libations whilst we poor hotel guest suckers waited for a clean room.
This guy didn't speak any English, which is fine, but he proceeded to yell at me in German whilst checking me in. I have never been so flustered in my life. The guy took me up to the room and showed me the beds, yelled at me that this was ok (even though said beds had no sheets) and then left. He came back with sheets. I think he then told me to leave and stay, both at the same time. I asked him if he wanted me to go OR stay and he replied yes to both. Clearly he was frustrated with my lack of linguistic ability....but I think a lot of it has to do with how much he had to drink. Very strange.
After collecting our stuff, we found a local grocery store selling beer and enjoyed Germany the old fashion way - plastic hotel cups and German beer.
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