Thursday, Jan 18th
We started our time in Leipzig with a walking tour around the city. Being a smaller city, it didn't take nearly as long as the Prague tour, but we were still able to see the worthwhile sights in town including the main shopping mall and the University of Leipzig. After the tour, Aaron and I decided to check out the shopping scene. Walking into the first three or four stores, we realized that everything was far out of our price range. We were on the verge of giving up when we stumbled upon a gem which you may have seen in MariHa’s blog post: Primark. This clothing store has everything from street wear to suits, all for relatively cheap prices. After some price reductions the merchandise was truly a bargain; I got a scarf for €1! I also bought a cardigan here while Aaron got a nice vest. Content with our new purchases, we made our way back to the hostel in time to catch happy hour before the concert. The venue for the night, the Gewandhaus, was incredible. The seats wind around the central stage, allowing for 360 degree viewing. Our seats positioned us behind the orchestra so we got to see the conductor from a new angle. Couple this with an amazing musical performance and it's no surprise why this concert was Aaron's favorite one yet. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I have to say the fraction of the Benda quartet concert that I got to see still holds the number one spot in my book.
All smiles after a great concert.
Friday, Jan 19th
The first item on our agenda was a visit to the Bach museum right across the street from the St. Thomas Church. As to be expected, it was incredible to get to see the life and works of Bach in detail. We spent the better part of our morning and early afternoon here before we walked back to the hostel. On our way back we passed by the main plaza where an outdoor farmers market was going on. We decided we needed to stroll through the aisles of food stands and trucks, and it was during this time that Aaron and I had the idea to buy some fresh ingredients to make lunch. We settled on pasta since there was some of it up for grabs back at the hostel. After much deliberation, we purchased our ingredients: tomatoes, garlic, basil, and an herb roasted sausage. The process was a bit experimental since none of us had actually made tomato sauce from scratch before, but in the end it turned out perfectly. The only improvement we could have made would be more sauce.
The finished product.
We headed to St. Thomas Church after lunch to see a performance by the boys choir, some of whose members couldn't have been older than six. As Dr. Powell pointed out, it was awesome to see this choir perform Bach's music in the place in which it was originally performed. After the service, the group and I made our way to a brewery for a specially-catered buffet for our class. Not only was the food delicious, but they even graciously allowed us to take leftovers back with us. We made our way back to the hostel with stomachs and hands full of roast turkey, potato salad, pasta, and apple strudel.
Saturday, Jan 20th
We continued our streak of composer museums with a trip to the Mendelssohnhaus dedicated to Felix and his sister Fanny. The first exhibit here was a virtual orchestra which we got to conduct. Apart from this we got to see some of Felix’s work as a painter, a little-known side hobby of his to accompany his compositions. After this, Aaron and I walked back to the hostel with Dr. Powell before making our way to a spot called Prime Burger for lunch. We didn't have much time so we got the food to go and hurried towards the church for a liturgical service where parts of Bach's B minor Mass would be performed. Despite the occasional looks of judgment from the crowd of church-goers, our burgers made for a delicious way to pass the time spent waiting in line before the service. Following the service we received a brief tour of the inside of the church, during which we got to see Bach’s gravestone. We were then turned loose for our last evening in Leipzig, which we spent eating leftovers and partaking in happy hour at the hostel bar.
No comments:
Post a Comment