Canoeing down the Elbe

Last Saturday, we spent the day canoeing on the Elbe River. What a workout! The next day, I could barely life my arms, and my lower back was sore. But it was so worth it! We took an hour long train ride to Königstein where we started out, and paddled our way down to Pirna, a city closer to Dresden. It took us about 5 hours, including a pit stop at a cute little festival. Turns out, we were actually crashing a wedding! The weather was beautiful, or should I say, das Wetter war schön! The sun was shining, and it was pretty hot out too. Just about everyone got sunburned. The 30 of us who went were split up into 4 boats of 7 or 8. Along the way, we had numerous mini races and huge water battles. We even battled it out with some Germans. It was the most fun I've had in a while.

After we got back to our lovely city, a big group of us went to a bar called Bärenzwinger to watch the America v Ghana game. It kinda felt like a cave, hidden in a huge wall. Very cool! It was fun to watch the game together and root for our country. We were all bummed about the turn out, but we still had a good time.

Speaking of the World Cup, here in Dresden, they play all of the Germany games on a huge screen alongside the Elbe. Tons and tons of people show up for the Public Viewing. A bunch of us went to join the frenzy. It was crazy packed with people all dressed in German gear. It was fun to be in the huge crowd,cheering on Deutschland together. When Germany scored the goal against Ghana, the whole crowd went wild, jumping up and down, screaming, blowing their vuvuzelas!

Another group paddling down the Elbe.

A German clown!

Some weird sail they had at the fesitval/wedding.

A view down the Elbe.