We made it! We left Cleveland yesterday at 2:10pm (8:10pm Dresden). One 58 pound bag check all the way through to Dresden (not a word was said about the extra 8 pounds). First stop, Toronto. We arrived in Toronto at 3:40pm our flight began boarding at 3:50pm and the security lines were incredibly long. This is when I decided to as the Air Canada employee, who was standing next to a policeman, what we should do? Her answer was to stand in the long line and when our flight was called to go over there (she pointed to a security person). Our flight was called and the policeman came to get us. He escorted us pass everyone in line and up to the short friends and family line. We made it through security and as we were approaching our gate the Air Canada employee yelled out our names and then got on the phone to the plane to not close the doors. I finally became that person that everyone was pissed at because she held up the plane.
I'm happy to say that the 7+ hours from Toronto to Frankfurt was smooth and uneventful. With no possibility to sleep it allowed me to go through two inflight movies, Joy and The Bose and three very funny episodes of the Canadian t.v. series Schitt$ Creek. In Frankfurt we had over a three hour layover until our final flight, to Dresden, left at 9:15am (3:15am Cleveland). There was time to regroup and much to look at in the Frankfurt airport.
We arrived in Dresden a little after 10:00am (4:00am Cleveland) and our bags were also there. Martin met us outside baggage claims and took us to the Pension Raskolnikoff. Kate and I checked into our rooms, took a few minutes and then met Martin downstairs to be taken on a 2.5 hour walking tour of the area around us. He pointed out things like coffee houses, bars, and different stores that might be of interest to us. He also took us out for lunch and talked a little about our exhibition and the other artists who'll be here from Sweden, Greece and Poland. After Martin left, Kate and I walked to the Elbe River and then back to our rooms to relax, shower and unpack.
Tonight was just a short walk around the city, a visit to the grocery store and then back to our rooms by 8:00pm. Tomorrow we meet Martin outside the Pension at 9:00am to learn our tram route to the printing studio and our 10:00am tea with the printmakers
STEPS today: 19373