That 'must see' was the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, which truly is extraordinary & well worth the 8E to visit. The wee display on the repair and restoration of this huge concrete monument was most interesting for post-quake Chch folk such as ourselves! The photo below shows the gallery inside the monument; many more will eventually go on my Flickr site.
We also were delighted by the wonderful buildings & ambience of Leipzig University, smack in the middle of the city. The modern recreation of the Paulus Church, destroyed by the GDR in 1968 is stunning and an example for Christchurch to follow should the cathedral authorities ever get round to deciding on a replacement for Chch Anglican Cathedral. The photo below somewhat demonstrates the grandeur yet lightness of the exterior, and what we could see of the yet to be completed interior is also a celebration of light & form.
The city also is full of bikes, some parking in quite difficult places, while cars also get more than a fair share of space on ring roads & parking buildings. There is definitely not enough bike parking space so bikes are locked whereever space can be found & many shops have signs asking that bikes not be placed along their walls/windows.
The centre of the city is full of lovely 'old' buildings - some of them repaired originals whilst many are recreations of the traditional styles. Germans like to hold on to their history & celebrate the craftsmanship that is involved in such work. The picture below is of the old town hall while the other is of the steeple of St Nicholas Chrurch sparkling in evening sunlight.
We visited St Nicholas as it's square was the place where prayer vigils for freedom were regularly held from 1987 until the wall fell - many people were arrested by the Stasi over those years of struggle. We also visited the St Thomas Church made famous by JS Bach during his 27+ years as cantor there; on the other side of the platz stands the Bach museum - worth a visit if you have time (we didn't). We went instead to the Mendelssohn Museum where we managed to view only the separate pavilion where the story of how the Nazi's tried to erase Mendelssohn & his reportoire from German history is wonderfully displayed. One of the last times his music was played during the Nazi era was by a Jewish orchestra at a death camp!
Tuesday saw us checking out bikes shops with the aim of getting Caroline's Ortlieb pannier repaired - check out Lucky Bike if you're ever in Leipzig as it's huge & the staff helpful. Once that was done we set off to visit the Pharmacy Museum - fascinating if you have any interest in the history of apothecary - then onto the Stasi Museum, which just left us stunned! It reminds us that we humans have an endless ability to play stupid games with each other in order to gain power and engender fear. The fact that they began recruiting potential Stasi employees at the age of 12 through propoganda within schools and by selecting children who had no family in the West and whose parents were party members, and then asking them to spy on others!
After a quick lunch out of the bitingly cold wind we headed back to Mendelssohn House to visit the muesum. A visit is highly recommended - many of the display cabinets have English information but the audio guide is worth asking for, and at the end of your visit listen to 2 or 3 pieces of his music in the Effectorium where one can even pretend to conduct the orchestra. We were the only visitors so we were able to close our eyes & lose ouselves in the beauty of his music.
In short, Leipzig is a delight & a 1 1/2 day visit cannot do it justice .... as it is we will miss the Medieval themed Easter Market starting Wednesday and a couple of Bach concerts over the Easter holiday season. We'll also miss a visit to the famed New Lakeland Area south of the city, which had the weather been warmer on Tuesday we may have chosen to cycle to BUT with temperatures dropping below 10C a museum day seemed a more prudent option.
Food tip: Try Umaii for yummy Japanese Ramen style evening meal. Our second evening we went to Hanoi Vietnamese Restaurant - tasty but not as good as the one we went to in Berlin ... ftiendly staff, though.
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