From Erik

After a few glorious days in Prague it was time to embark on the final leg of our journey, to Dresden, but not before we visited our favorite breakfast spot for one last time. After enjoying our fruity pancakes, omelets, a maybe the errant dessert, we headed back to the apartment, packed up our stuff, and rolled our gear back to the Central Train Station.

When we arrived we observed once again, that there isn’t anywhere to sit! Additionally, in Prague the platforms are ever changing, so you have to wait until about 20 minutes before your departure to find out where you will be departing from. We anxiously monitored the screen, and as soon as we had some info we were off to the races!

Upon our arrival at the Dresden Hauptbahnhof, we quickly figured out two things – which train would take us to our next apartment, and the location of the Rollercoaster Restaurant (more on that later)! Before we knew it, we were checked in to our last apartment, the Aparthotel am Zwinger. This was a spacious two bedroom apartment, with my favorite feature – oscillating fans!

Once we got settled in, we headed back to the Hauptbahnhof so we could get our dinner at the famous to us – The Rollercoaster Restaurant! Katie discovered this place at some point during her research, and it was the #1, can’t miss thing on her list, and we were finally here!! We took the elevator to the top floor and got to see all of the rollercoaster track that transported the guests food throughout the facility. I approached the check in area told the host that we would like a table for six!

“Six….six is going to be tough today,” replied the host.

I made a point to slowly scan the entire restaurant. “But there’s no one here actually,” I deadpanned back.

“Well sometimes it gets busy. Let me see if I can figure something out,” he tells me. Well he did figure something out, and for the record, when we left a few hours later, it was still a ghost town!

Once we took our seats we were given a detailed explanation of how it all works. We would be using the iPads at the table to order our food and drinks, and when it had been prepared it would be delivered right to our table via the rollercoaster rails. As we glanced around the restaurant we were able to see the wide variety of tracks that went to each of the restaurants tables. From a vertical loop to corkscrews and camelbacks, each of the unique tracks took your dinner on a wild ride before you got to dig in.

The décor inside the restaurant was a confusing mish mash of science fiction and space that seems like it’s just waiting for a cease and desist letter. The staff was outfitted with Star Trek t-shirts and one of them even flashed me a “live long and prosper” gesture. Then they had Star Wars characters throughout the place, but not really cool ones, instead opting for 80’s style Halloween masks on mannequins that must have come from some sort of liquidation sale.

After we ordered our food, we waited with anticipation for our drinks to make the trip from the center of the restaurant to our table, through a series of twists and turns. We were not disappointed!! After we got our drinks, the kids left the table to do a little exploring, and since the place was empty we let them. As has been the case throughout our adventure, the kids tend to build rapport with strangers in a hurry (language barrier be damned), which in turn means we all get to have a little more fun. Today was no exception!

Katie and Juliette discovered that they could watch the chefs and line cooks prepare the food, so that’s what they did. There was also a food runner that would take the finished dishes from the kitchen, up the stairs, and then he would put them on the tracks and deploy them to the appropriate table. As Katie and Juliette cheered on the staff, the mood in the back of the house became very cheerful. The girls ended up returning to the table with copious amounts of gummy bears, and later in the meal the food runner let the whole family ascend the food deployment tower. As we were climbing up, the front of the house staff told us that it was against the rules for customers to be there, and our new friend told them all to chill out! After we finished our delicious dinner, we peppered the cooks with high fives and thank yous, and then we headed back through the (still mostly empty) restaurant and went back to our apartment.

After a good nights rest, we were ready to start exploring Dresden! Just up the street from our aparthotel, was a lovely bakery where we filled our bellies with pastry and Frühstuck für Zwei! Between the hard boiled eggs, the meat and cheese platter, and the fresh bread, we were ready to take on the day, but by this point in the journey the kids were not too keen on visiting more historical sites. After some discussion we agreed that since we came all the way here, we had to at least check out the landmarks, and then we would seek out some “kid” activities. To that end we began our day!

We took a short walk through Dresden and arrived at the Zwinger, a baroque style palace located in the Innere Altstadt. It also houses the Old Masters Picture Gallery, but as per our agreement, we didn’t see any of that. We immediately moved along to the Dresden Frauenkirche. This church was completely destroyed at the end of Word War II, but using the original plans and intact pieces from the rubble, the entire structure was rebuilt. It was indeed a beautiful church, a shining example of both the destructive power of man and his resolve to heal old wounds and create order from chaos. And what do you know, you can climb a lot of stairs and hang out on the top!!

For lunch we mixed it up a bit and visited an Australian restaurant. The menu consisted of some exotic (to us) meats including kangaroo, crocodile, and ostrich. Liz and I split a sampler platter, and everyone had fun trying out the different foods. Perhaps we’ve made a little bit of progress on this front after all. Charlie really enjoyed the crocodile, and the ostrich was also a pretty big hit, because it tastes like steak.

Next we decided to make our way to the Deutsches Hygiene Museum, a sort of medical museum that combines science, culture, and society, which made for a really interesting experience! First we headed to the children’s area (again as per our agreement) which was themed The World of Senses. Everyone had a great time in this highly interactive area where we learned all about our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin.

After a few hours we headed into the main museum where got to see a little bit of everything. Juliette got to watch a video of a live birth (Germans are much more comfortable with the human body, as evidenced by much of this museum), and Charlie and Samantha had fun at the display on aging. They gave the kids a variety of impediments so they could experience what it’s like to get older. We even learned about the diet of different cultures in a display that took photos of families with one weeks worth of groceries. Most of the museum was fascinating, although we did skirt the kids through the room that depicted male and female genitalia riddled with STDs.

We actually ran out of time before seeing everything, so we decided that we would come back tomorrow! We walked back toward our Aparthotel and on the way back we stopped at our favorite kind of place – a pizza place. After enjoying our dinner we found a public fountain/splash pad. Despite not having any sort of swim suits, the kids had a blast playing in the water! Exhausted after another long day, we were glad to cozy up in our beds and get some much needed rest!