Kelsey's Travel Blog!
I travel not to escape life, but to be sure that life will not escape me! Come join me!
Leipzig, Germany
Easter is a holiday that I have never been too keen on celebrating. Aside from the occasional church visit, and hunt for our Easter basket, Easter was more of a holiday that my mom and grandparents celebrated, not me. Also, given the “political correct” nature of the US, it is something that is not talked about in school, and people rarely have days off because of it, unless you attend a Christian school.
In Germany, on the other hand, not only does the entire country practically shut down on Easter Sunday, the following Monday is a state holiday, and no one needs to go to work or to class. After discovering this long weekend, Shelby, the other American student from Temple, and Luisa, one of our really good friends from Brazil, decided we were going to go somewhere. Somehow, we came across Leipzig.
Leipzig is an incredibly old German city, located in the eastern part of the country. It is the largest city in the German state of Saxony, and is one of the cities in former East Germany that played a significant role in the fall of communism. It is also the city that Shelby and I have learned a lot about, since our German professor, Dr. Waskie, is obsessed with the city and brings it up often in our German classes. We decided that it was about time that we saw what this city was all about.
After being dropped off by our car share driver in the middle of nowhere right outside of the city, we struggled to find our way to our hostel. Luckily for us, there was a bar in our hostel, which seemed to be a theme here in Germany. We spent the following morning touring the city on a double decker bus, trying to out run the chill of Germany in March. We saw the beautiful Universitaet Leipzig, founded in 1409 and one of Europe’s oldest Universities. It was also home to a number of Nobel Prize winners, and other world famous Germans such as Johann Wolfgang, Goethe, Erich Kaestner, Gottfried Leibnitz, Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner, and the current German chancellor, Angela Merkel. We saw St. Tomas Church, which Johann Sebastian Bach worked, the Felix Mendelssohn monument, the St. Nicholas Church, the Battle of the Nations monument, the old and new town halls, etc. Clearly there was more than we bargained for in Leipzig.
Although I really did enjoy the city, and wanted to spend more time in a different part of Germany, I unfortunately got incredibly sick while in Leipzig, which I later found out was a bad case of Bronchitis, and our trip was cut short thanks to my inability to breathe properly and the serious need for a doctor.
Nevertheless, Leipzig was way more than we bargained for, and I do hope to return some day to see the infamous Auerbachs Keller where young Goethe ate and drank while studying in Leipzig, as well as to the oldest botanical garden in Germany. Leipzig is just another great German city with a rich history that, after being nearly destroyed, has built itself back up to be a vibrant college town with beautiful architecture, lots of fun activities, and well preserved monuments that made the two and a half hour trip down here totally worth it; even if I was on my death bed.