Leipzig

Thomaskirche and Bach statue

Reggie and I with half meter long Bratwursts

Battle of the Nations Monument


This weekend I went to Leipzig, checking another city off my list. The city is huge and feels like an Eastern German city with the huge block houses and buildings built to symbolize strength, meaning that they are ugly as hell and big concrete blobs.




Highlights of the city include the awesome Baroque Nikolaikirche where peace prayers in the late 1980s helped join the two countries together again. The Contemorary History Museum, which is free and huge, shows the history of the last century, focusing on life in East Germany. Turns out the city of Chemnitz was called Karl Marx City during this time period.



Outside of the Thomaskirche, was a huge statue of Bach, who had played numerous time as the church organist there. The best part of the statue is that his pockets were turned out as he always claimed to never have money, having 20 kids with two women.



The Battle of Nations Monument, outside of the city, remembers the 100,000 soliders who died in the decisive 1813 battle victory over Napoleon’s army. The monument is 91 meters high, and very impressive with a large lake in front of it. To compare it to the Washington Monument in DC, something similar in a huge monument with water nearby, this monemnt was much more impressive. Gigantic and with amazing carvings on the stone when you get up close.



At the Christmas market, I got to try my first mug of grog, which tasted horrible, basically just hot alcohol. I also had a half meter long bratwurst which was awesome. The Christmas Market is huge and sprawling, taking over most of the city streets, and was packed with people the entire weekend.




Another interesting thing about Leipzig is that when you rent an apartment, it is often just the walls, with no kitchen and such. People have to put in their own oven etc. as well as the counters and sometimes even the floor. The buildings would often just have concrete floors and it would be up to the people to fill them in. its changed a bit now which the flooring having been put and left in, but I was in two places where the people had to put in their own kitchens.