Now Back to Germany Again!

Leipzig, Germany

Alright now to get  back to our regularly scheduled program. Oh and yes, still in Paris, but if I don’t get on the plane tomorrow I already have other travel plans and will hop on a train to somewhere else. So now, I left Switzerland to go visit a new friend in Germany that I met along my travels actually en route to Turkey from Greece. Now don’t know if I mentioned this but Switzerland is very expensive, not just because of my super high bus fine but just period! So I go the morning to get my train ticket that my Swiss host had looked up for me and when I went to pay for my 8 hour journey I was a bit taken aback by the final price, over $200 for a train ticket!!! Nonetheless I was already there and at the point of no return i.e. card already swiped. So off I went to Leipzig, Germany.

The University areas in Leipzig

Night one in Leipzig we went to have drinks with my friend’s classmates and the following night we got together at his friend’s house for a few again then off to a club on a Tuesday night that was packed and lots of fun. Never heard of this city in eastern Germany before but I’d say we were off to a good start! Now as for the temperature it alternated between a bit chilly for me to just perfectly sunny with a slight coolness in the air. Most importantly it was well into fall and just beautiful with the jewel toned amber and gold leaves everywhere. I was in awe especially since it was something I don’t have back home, I really tried to take it all in, well once I wasn’t lazing around the flat waiting for my friend to finish classes during the days. Oh and I must say I had a much better experience with the Germans this time around, I mean they are notoriously coldish people, although this different experience could be due to the fact that I mostly socialized with people my friend knew. Although I will quietly say that there were one or two that still fit the stereotype but shhh I never  bothered to bring that up!

Walking through the park in Leipzig

I couldn’t resist

Two really cool things I saw while in Leipzig were the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, a structure built to commemorate the battle that took place about 199 years prior, the bloodiest battle in Europe Prior to WWI, where Napoleon was conquered. It is really a grand structure unfortunately we arrived about a minute too late and were unable to go inside but we climbed the steps and got great views of the city. The other was the Amazonien exhibition by Asisi. He spent two years in the amazon capturing 30 thousand photos and recreating a 360 degree image in this circular room with lighting and sound effect to simulate his experience in the amazon. This was spectacular, while in this room the lighting changes taking you through the effects of 24 hours in the rainforest. He thought it was important to bring education and awareness to why it is so important to preserve the amazon and of course no pics allowed but you know I had to look out for you guys right? Also before entering the room you pass walls of photos and information about the amazon that quite frankly blew my mind.

Approaching the monument

Work being done on the monument

Viewing information in the Amazonien exhibition

People on top of the viewing tower in the center of the 360 room

I was actually sad to leave Leipzig, it’s a pretty cool city with a huge university population where I was and I met some neat people there and my friend was also a really great host! I also got a message from one of the people that I met over the weekend saying that exactly one week after leaving it started to snow! But as usual it was time to go, it was 5 days well spent and I was off to London again to pick up luggage I had left there!

At ground level in the 360 exhibition room