Leaving the City: Day Trip to Meissen + Transportation Tips

 

Studying abroad in a city has been wonderful - there are so many perks to it. Berlin has an abundance of stores, restaurants, buses passing every ten minutes; it is truly what a city should be. As much as I have enjoyed it I did want to experience a culture a little more different than what I am used to so I decided to spend one of my free days on a day trip to a beautiful German town near Dresden called Meissen. 

My roommate and I woke up early to make most of the day, leaving Berlin at 8am and getting to Meissen at 11. Germany offers a 9 euro ticket for travelling that is amazing and super convenient but it's important to know that it sadly does not include many of their inter-city (IC, ICE, EC) trains so we had to work with strange times using the regional buses that do work with the 9 euro ticket. 

Meissen was absolutely breathtaking. Not even a three minute walk away from the train station was a gorgeous river surrounded by bright houses. The town was incredibly picturesque with vibrant houses and small streets - so picturesque in fact that we were even able to see a horse-drawn carriage pulling a newly wed couple. 

The town is so gorgeous that you hardly notice the uphill trek up to the Albrechtsburg castle. Personally, I was so much more enamored by the gothic church beside the castle that I forgot to take pictures of the castle. The castle has beautiful gardens and a wonderful view of Meissen which you can see as you walk down back to the main center of town. 

We completed our day in Meissen with a traditional German meal, some ice cream, and a little bit of shopping in town. Fair warning, many stores had closed pretty early, around 4-5pm which I attributed it to the wedding but it is a small town so that is something to watch out for. 

So while the morning trip was only about three hours, the trip back to Berlin was roughly 5 hours, from 7-12, this is mostly due to us accommodating to the schedules of regional buses in order to avoid paying for the trains. Plus, this offers great time to do the studying part of study abroad! On the trip back I was able to get a few readings and notes done for class. 

Now here are my best tips for navigating public transportation:

- check what is NOT included in your public transportation passes and plan accordingly 

- buses and trains can be delayed, if possible take a slightly earlier bus if you have another connecting train!

- take advantage of the time on the train and get some work done

- always check the direction the bus/train is heading and make sure it matches your direction

- if you can, RESERVE SEATS! it's usually not that expensive and it is so worth it to avoid any issues!

I'm sure there are many more tips and tricks for getting around but perhaps, the most important tip I can offer is just be ready to mess up and have fun in the little adventure that is getting lost.

By Citlalli Martinez Cano