Trip report

For those of you who gave me some ideas for outings on a trip to Leipzig a few months ago:
A friend and I spent 5 days in Leipzig in early June, staying in an Airbnb house outside the centre because we had a hard time finding reasonably priced accommodation in the centre. On arrival in early afternoon, and a walk around the old city, I did wonder how to fill such a long time there, but in fact, it's a place that grows on you, once you start to walk around and find interesting neighbourhoods.

We had really nice warm sunny weather, the linden trees were all in bloom so it smelled nice. It's a city with a huge amount of green areas, parks, water. Public transport is mostly trams, but it looked as though everybody rode a bicycle, so it was quiet. And Germans seem generally not too noisy, unlike southern Europeans (as I can attest living in southern France).

Leipzig is a city of books & publishing, so lots of bookshops. We also visited the national German archives, part of which were moved to W Germany after 1945. The university is in the city centre and is being renovated -- some interesting architecture and installations. The architecture of the public buildings in the old centre is not to my taste -- rather monumental and heavy, especially that of the late 19th c. But when you start to look up, there are lots of little details. And the city is known for its many passages between streets, filled with shops or cafés. And we also found areas with bars and cafés where it was nice to sit, people watch and drink beer, which is good and cheap.

Leipzig also being the city where Johann Sebastian Bach was cantor for 27 years, we went to a concert in one of the churches where he had worked. Also visited his other church, which was also the starting point for the peaceful anti-government demonstrations in early 1989, partly leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall. We also visited the Stasi museum in its old headquarters. It was interesting, but would have been more so if my knowledge of German had been better.

We went on a 24-hour trip to Erfurt, just over an hour away by train. Very carefully restored medieval town -- but so perfect that we began to look for some graffitti to believe it's real! Quite a lot of tourists, but all German. We stayed in a hostel that was a converted police station. Empty because of this time of year.

And the visit ended with the Wave Goth Treffen, which we hadn't been aware of when we decided to go to Leipzig (hence the accommodation problems). Quite a picturesque event, with thousands of people of all ages, dressed in black or in dark costumes. Friendly and polite and posing willingly for photographs. We didn't go to any of the concerts though.

All in all, we had a good time, people were friendly (although not the fake "have a nice day" kind of attitude), many spoke English, prices very reasonable for food and drink.

the fake "have a nice day" kind of attitude
bjd, that's a nice/interesting observation. This virus is spreading over all Europe, even in the French blasé tourist resorts we ad been reminded to have a bonne journée.
Thanks for info about facts and ambiance in Leipzig.
NB. I've been told there's a marvellous trainstation?!

Cheers for that....a nice city;I haven't been to that part of the country for a long time (and nevr to Erfurt) so maybe time for another trip soon

arizona -- the train station is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in Europe. I don't know whether or not that makes it marvellous. Definitely massive, although not very busy. And it has shopping malls on several levels underneath.

I was actually thinking more of the N American kind of "have a nice day" fakeness. There has been a definite improvement in France, but I don't think it has reached those levels. In Germany they just say tschüss when you leave a shop or anywhere in a rather friendly manner.

Good to hear that you had a nice trip, around where I live I hear 'einen schönen Tag noch' more and more often, didn't use to be that way.

Thanks for reporting back. Leipzig is one of those places where you need to get "under its skin" to enjoy it, and you seem to have done that., as the 19th century mask covers quite a lot of interest. Where's the pin fallen on the map for next year?

And luca - you really should put a few days aside for Thuringia -and not just Erfurt

No pin in the map for next year yet, mike. Since we both enjoyed our trip to Leipzig, we vaguely talked of maybe going to two Hanseatic cities next year, like Lübeck and Bremen, but it's not sure. I never plan that far in advance. Lots of criteria to consider (neither of us having been there yet, not too many hours getting there, preferably east somewhere, not too expensive...).

the fake "have a nice day" kind of attitude...bjd, that's a nice/interesting observation. This virus is spreading over all Europe, even in the French blasé tourist resorts we ad been reminded to have a bonne journée.

It's becoming an epidemic here in Ireland, as well...my current bug is every second waiter/waitress regaling me with 'enjoy' after serving me a meal - I'm paying for it, so I reserve the right not to 'enjoy'! :-)

Did you drink the beer that Leipzig is known for (amongst other things)?

I also enjoyed my 4 days in Leipzig. The train station is a lot more modern now, almost didn't recognise it. I passed through it in 1997 on my way to Berlin.

We had several kinds of beer, usually dark beer. The waiters or waitresses were usually nice enough to bring us a bottle with two glasses, 50cl being a lot for one person. Also had an Erfurter bratwurst, a long grilled light-coloured sausage in a small round bun. Yummy.

Both cities also had very good coffee, especially cappuccino, which is hard to find in France.

bjd, that's a Thuringa Bratwurst and you can get it at a lot of places, but I saw on the Erfurt tourist site that they sell it as an Erfurter Bratwurst, hope other people from Thuringa will not find out or they storm their capital for false advertisment ;), cause they are just as famous as Nuernberger Rostbratwuerstchen.