Leipzig: Legos, Lemurs, and Lightly Salted Pommes Frites

The next stop on my winter travels was the east Germany city of Leipzig. With a history dating back to the Roman Empire and being known as the home and burial place for Bach, the city's history excited me.

Also I was visiting my dear friend, an exchange student I met six years ago in high school, Thomas Mösch (Moesch in English).

After a brief confusion in the main train station about where to meet (who knew there were three different McDonalds?) Thomas grabbed my pack, handed me a travel ticket for the weekend, and we headed back to his apartment. A small flat up six flights of stairs, with a kitchen the size of my shower and resembling what I always imagined young, energetic, poor, twenty somethings lived in in NYC. So of course I loved it immediately. I thought it adorable how the bathroom light flickered eerily, how the dishwasher was the width of my old PC, and how the top floor windows allowed a small balcony, and over looked the city and church spires. From his bedroom window you could spot the church Bach was buried at, the old city hall that looks like a castle I would very much like to live in, and the rest of the city that has seen countless wars, immigrants, monarchies, democracies, communism, and still the fading daylight bounced off the red tiled roofs, a warm glow embracing the new shopping mall built into old stone buildings.

The shopping was fantastic. And in a great location. The mall was huge, but the open area was even cooler. Built around a city block, with its alley ways enclosed with beautiful tile and sculptures, with courtyards opening up to monuments and churches, the shops that surrounded catered to everyone. Fossil, Armani, Prada, Coach; shopping for us more normal folk, H&M on every corner, quirky art stores, cafes and sushi places, movie theaters, museums, a lego store (that I spent an hour in), and street food.

Thomas took me to this one particular Pommes Frites stand (fries) to eat. All we ordered were fries "with white" (mayo), and the fries rivaled those of Dick's Hamburgers. We ate while watching children chase the pigeons in front of a church built in 1400 or something.

Thomas also took me to the zoo. Leipzig is well known in Germany for its zoo. It is huge, and we spent three hours and barely saw anything. The main attraction in the zoo is not the big cats, or elephants, or dolphin shows, its instead a huge enclosed building that looks similar to the sports "bubbles" seen on college campuses. Inside was a small river boat cruise, not unlike the one at Disney Land, and miles of dirt paths, stairways, and swinging bridges. You walked through the rain forest, seeing ant eaters on the ground, climbed through the trees to see birds, lizards, and monkeys of course. It was very cool, very warm, and full of children.

At my insistence we also toured the St. Thomas Kirche (St. Thomas Church) where Bach became famous and is buried (in the altar, like right in the altar). The church was closed. Thomas asked why, and found out there was a concert later by the Princeton Glee Club. Well that explained all the American accents I kept hearing on a weekend in January in a non major city in Germany. We waited for the concert and then experienced some beautiful music (sung in Latin) while admiring the church (as it was Lutheran it wasn't decorated as pretty as the Catholic churches, but still cool). Attending the concert was one of those spontaneous things that happen while traveling. I probably would never had the chance to hear a national award winning glee club sing classic Bach songs, let alone in The Bach Church. I loved it. And it was 40 minutes long, music and sermon, which was a perfect length. Because sung Latin Bach songs on a Saturday after I have been traveling for ten days can make one very sleepy.

 Bachy. Or Joe. He likes both nick names.

 Facing the alter, and the pulpit where the sermon was preached.

The Glee Kids moving about. 

After Leipzig I headed home. 12 days of travel through London and Germany was finished. And I was freaking exhausted. 

I arrived home at about midnight, and slept through the next day. When I woke the next afternoon, I went down stairs to get something to eat and greet my host family. Eliano stared at me for about five minutes before shrieking, "Ahma!" (his version of Amelia), and running to me on his short little legs, grunting the whole way. He is an adorable little fellow, and it warms my heart to know he missed me. 

To see more photos of Leipzig, check out my photo blog