Leipzig

I will have to post this entry without any photos to accompany it… Although I traveled to Leipzig this past weekend, I forgot to bring my camera! What tragedy. I made the trip with my friend Rachel Jans (she is in my dept. at the University of Chicago and also doing language study at the Goethe-Institute, although much more advanced than I!). And Leipzig is truly a charming city. However, since it rained most of the two days we were there, it wasn’t the best of weather for taking pictures. I was happy enough not to be juggling a camera with my umbrella.

Leipzig is a city known for lots of things; it has a famous school of contemporary artists and was quite active in political agitation before the fall of the Berlin wall and German re-unification. It also possesses quite a musical heritage. Johann Sebastian Bach was cantor of the St. Thomas church (1723-50), and his influence can be seen in the work of other famous musicians and composers associated with the city later on, such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Robert and Clara Schumann.

We poked around the shops and museums in city center and got to see most of the major sites during our first day. Historic Leipzig is quite small! Like I said, it was also a rainy, cold weekend. We did a lot of walking, but I wasn’t interested in trekking long distances. We spent half our time indoors, recuperating with cups of coffee, hot Apfel Strudel, and such things. I had a delicious brunch this morning, sächeschen Quarkkeulchen with applesauce, whipped cream, and tiny red berries that are super-tart, but tasty (Johannes berries, I’ve since discovered). Quark is some kind of cream. That’s as much as I understand of my German explanations! The resulting food item was a pudding-like flat cake with raisins scattered throughout and yummy.

Okay, so the food in Leipzig was definitely memorable! We also did a lot of snacking on the trains, since the ride was about 2 ½ hours between Berlin and Leipzig. We weren’t on the fast, commuter trains. We did the trip with the ‘Schönes-Wochenende’ tickets offered by DB; these were discounted and could include up to 5 people on one ticket. Because of the ticket, we were a little more limited in our choice of trains. Still, it was a pretty direct route. Other than a bit of confusion when we had to change trains (some of these more rural stations don’t seem to be populated on the weekends, and esp. lacking anyone in official uniforms to announce which train is which or to update the signs hanging above the platforms), we made it there and back again. The countryside between Berlin and Leipzig is just as flat as in Berlin. I watched green fields and farms flicking past through a very rain-streaked window.

We left this afternoon earlier than we’d first planned for our return. But after going through the main art museum, the Museum der bildenden Künste, on Saturday afternoon (this way we were indoors during the most torrential part of the rainy downpour) and after some more walking this morning and other museums, there wasn’t much left to do. Rachel had to visit a gallery of contemporary art for her research and I wandered through the Bach Museum next to the St. Thomaskirche. But the rain made any other Spazierengang unappealing! We’d already drunk enough coffee for the day and had frequented several different cafes.


If I would have posted pictures, I think they would have been of the many fountains in Leipzig, and maybe the incredible, baroque building facades. They were really beautiful, actually. And we got some great views of the rooflines from the upper floors (and huge, floor-to-ceiling glass walls) of the art museum.

The fountains were everywhere. In the rain, they simply looked wetter! A huge jet of water spurted from the center of a shallow pool in front of the Leipzig opera house, while another fountain with an obelisk and frolicking bronze figures (winged horses, dolphins, and mermaids) stood across the square before the concert hall. There was also a fountain with two tiers of red granite and carved reliefs (a circle of standing putto on top and bearded faces on the bottom) in a small square where we took a coffee break and later returned for dinner on Saturday. Finally, we discovered a tall fountain with the Pied Piper of Hamlin tucked away by the Neues Rathouse. The captive audience of children is, I suppose, a reminder to the city officials of governmental decisions gone badly. Oh. I should also count our umbrellas. They did a magnificent job of dispersing water!

The Botanischer Garten

We're back to some not-so-great weather this week! But Saturday the clouds stayed away, and I went out on multiple train lines (the connection was supposed to be pretty straightforward, except that there must have been repair work going on on the train line that we would usually take; the detour included two or three extra trains!) to the Botanical Garden in Zehlendorf. Louise, another language student in my class, came along with me.

The Berlin Botanical Gardens aren't as big as Chicago's. But they are really impressive; nicely laid out and with a huge variety of plants from all over the world. They are also much older than Chicago's Botanical Garden, since some prince or other founded them in 1679. A Grand-Duke, sorry! The model garden was started in Schöneberg, another Berlin neighborhood, and transplanted to its current location at the beginning of the 20th century. Today it is part of the Freie Universität.

Louise and I both appreciated the greenery and the break from city surroundings. She had to put up with all my photo-taking, since I am still partial to the plant kingdom in terms of environmental biology.

Church Musicians

One of the things I love about European cities in the summer (well, in fact, this is true of many cities, including Chicago...) is the number of musicians performing out-of-doors. Below is a trio playing string instruments in the entrance courtyard to the Peace Church (or Friedenskirche) in Potsdam. The church was built by Frederick Willhelm IV in the mid-19th century and includes a Byzantine apse mosaic imported from Venice.

Potsdam Outing

I'm a wee bit behind on posting... my apologies! With classes every morning, the week goes by quickly. I'm happy to say that we've finally begun our summer, weather-wise. Last weekend was actually hot. But it has stayed sunny and warm during the week. My plans tomorrow are to seek out the local Schwimmbad and do some R&R (that stands for reading and relaxing in my book).



Some photos are in order, however, from an excursion last weekend to Potsdam and the summer palaces of the Prussian royalty. Above is our group of German-language students listening intently to the gentleman who served as our guide. We're standing in the Dutch quarter of Potsdam, with the typical brick facades and peaked roofs of Netherlandish architecture lining the street. As for the palaces, I enjoyed the green parks and estates surrounding them more so than the Rococo interiors =) But I have to say the yellow room with parrots in Sans-Souci won me over. It is also known as the Voltaire room after its famous philosopher inhabitant.

First, the exterior (also dominantly yellow):






We had a rather large group, too big for an effective tour of the grounds... so after seeing the Schloss Sanssouci we were on our own. I walked around with a few other new friends: Louise-Helene (in my weekly class), Ben, and Josup. We made our way to the Neue Palais where we could get tickets for an unguided tour. The palace is enormous! Like at Sanssouci, we all had to put on large felt slippers to protect the marble and wooden parquet. We skated across the well-polished floors from room to room, admiring various works of art and the many, many framed mirrors. My favorite room here was a grotto entirely covered with seashells and precious minerals/stones for its decoration. I didn't purchase permission to take photos inside, so no images here to illustrate.

Ben, Louise, and Josup in front of the Orangery

It was a long day, with lots of walking. We finished off with some lovely crepes and ice cream for dessert at "La Madeleine" back in Potsdam proper. It was an expensive meal, but worth the treat. A lovely evening to finish soaking up the last rays of sun.

La Madeleine - A French Creperie in Potsdam

Ich bin auf Deutschland

I am mostly recovered from jet-lag at this point, although the weather has been miserable ever since I arrived! Two weeks of rain and cold... This is the reason I thought I'd begin with this picture of a girl who was playing in the fireman fountain. It's wet. =) I took the photo last week. I seized a moment when the clouds had briefly cleared up to explore my neighborhood. I'm living in Kreuzberg, which is a fascinating multicultural area of Berlin. It has a large Turkish population and I've esp. enjoyed seeing the kiosks for doner kebaps, baklava in the little bakeries, and other Mediterranean fare in the local Turkish market - all of these familiar reminders of my trip to Istanbul last summer.

I'm staying with a German host through the Goethe-Institute language program; above is a view of my little Schlafzimmer. It's a good living situation, even more so than some of my other classmates, it seems. Simone is friendly and I've had some great opportunities to work on my conversational skills nach Hause. In general, my spoken German is rather poor! The point of this program is to build my basic vocabulary and grammar skills... I've encountered much more German than I've been able to deal with in my research already. Doing my reading lists for dept. exams this past year was just one more reminder of how much competency I don't have!

We have language classes every morning at the Institute, aber nicht zu viele Hausaufgabe (not too much homework)... Classes are just 10 min. away on the U-Bahn. It's very convenient, although I am not doing very well at leaving the house on time. =) The schedule also allows some time to explore the city, and there is a ton to see! I've done a few tours with the Kulture Program at the Institute so far. They've been super informative, and useful for orienting myself at the beginning of the summer.

It will be fun to update my blog regularly while I'm abroad this time around!


Bis bald!