July 9, 2014

Journey to the Heart of Germany: Part 3

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Journey to the Heart of Germany: Part 3

The next morning, after learning from our mistake the previous day, we woke up early and had plenty of time to stop for breakfast at the buffet in our hotel. I had heard a lot from my friends about how amazing the buffet was, so I was excited to see what it offered. Oddly enough, there was a motley of cuisines, including spring rolls. I was the only one there at the time in my circle of friends, and as an under classmen, I honestly didn’t know many of the other people on the tour, so I sat at my own table until my friends came down to join me. Looking back on that, I definitely realize that there was no reason at all to feel embarrassed for sitting alone for ten minutes, but hey, 15-year olds worry about some things that 16-year olds don’t worry about ;).

 We then left for Leipzig, and the domino effect of activities began. After a lunch of soup and sausage & potatoes, we checked into our rooms and prepped for our concert. The next day was filled with events; we visited Bach’s grave in the St. Thomas Church, walked past the University of Leipzig, performed a flash mob in an outdoor mall, played with all three music groups at the Leipzig Schule of Musik, window shopped at all of the upscale, European, brand name stores, ate German chocolate, heard several street performances at once, and even dined at the Huerbachs Keller, where a famous German writer, Goethe, often went to. We ate American pizza, stopped at the Starbucks, passed by an outdoor farmers’ market, visited this historic building where they’re working on piecing back together millions of ripped up documents and letters from the Holocaust, and watched a documentary at a local church on the Holocaust at night with some musicians from the Leipzig Schule of Musik. Lots of things to do in such a beautiful city; it reminded me of the winter-y, European version of 3rd Street Promenade? (even though I’ve never been to 3rd street, it looks like what I’ve seen in photos).

Leipzig is much more crowded than Dresden



We actually ate at the restaurant twice, for lunch (above) and dinner the next night (below)
 to be honest, wasn't a fan of this. i was getting pretty sick of all the meat and that chewy rice ball was the same as the one we had in Dresden, and I just wasn't a fan. 
cream on top of cherry sauce/compote
 University of Leipzig (has a vet school!)
church where Bach is buried in

 Bach's grave

statue of Mendelssohn, right outside of the church where Bach is buried in

 outdoor farmer's market (even in November! way to go Leipzig!)
 lots of upscale stores: Fossil, Rag & Bone, Zara
they even had TWO H&M stores and a LUSH store
 had to satiate my cravings and this was really good
 really wanted to try some (they look like donuts?) but I was just too full :(
 bicycles everywhere
 soo many different places to buy chocolate
 playing around with mens' hats in Zara's while my friend helped another friend shop for clothes...the sales ladies were kind of spying on us...

 one man show: singing "Mamma Mia", and he was good
more chocolate, anyone?

finally bought a box of truffles for my family at the tenth chocolate store we visited ;)

  We stayed at Motel One; despite the “motel” label, it exceeded our expectations and was located right off the busy cobblestone street, Grimmaische Straße, where the endless shopping, history, and outdoor markets were located on. 
i don't know about you, but that's a pretty sweet motel room. it was small, but really cute and much classier than anything i could have imagined for a motel room.

On top of that, the motel was directly across from the St. Nicholas church, where we played a concert with a local student orchestra that turned out to be our most successful and memorable concert. I think the concert was even better considering that we weren’t expecting much after the concert in Dresden, but the St. Nicholas church was PACKED; even the top floor was crowded, and we just played really well.
St. Nicholas Church, photo taken right outside of the motel


 absolutely breathtaking


the columns were HUGE. think of a sequoia tree but in column form.

For dinner, we went back to the Huerbachs Keller and had French fries and ice cream. That’s pretty much all I remember off the top of my head ;) Oh, plus, we had a water drinking contest that just made us giggle like crazy.

 fries fries fries fries fries fries fries fries fries fries
 REALLY good chicken with a reduction that had hints of white wine and garlic
best ice cream i've ever eaten, on top of a cherry sauce/compote


Nighttime in Leipzig, even on the downtown street, was very quiet. The streets were dark with the exception of a few neon colored cobblestones on the road and the glowing lights from the streetlights; it’s truly a sight worth staying up to see.
THIS is what i mean by neon, lit-up cobble stones :)
walking to the Huerbachs Keller for dinner


(all of the photos below were taken right from my hotel room. my friend & i were lucky enough to get a corner room, so we had two large windows and had a perfect view of the St. Nicholas church)
                
                    

                    

i just leaned outside of my window, staring at this view for probably twenty minutes.


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sneak peak at tomorrow's post on Berlin:








xoxo, Hannah

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