Leipzig!

Week three was again, very productive with plenty of play mixed in as well. Monday through Friday was spent in the studio. I have started trying a new approach to my houses which is much more experimental. Instead of just making houses that are a combination of German and American architecture from the beginning, now I am making my family’s houses exactly the way they are, and then painting German architectural influences on top of them. I don't have any good pictures of these yet, but there will be some up soon I promise.
On Thursday evening our studio friend Hannis invited us to a Barbeque thrown by several of his friends up on a hill that over looks the city and the river. It was a ton of fun! The weather was absolutely perfect and we made several new friends.
Friday evening we went back to Object 5 to go dancing, where Beth ran into a nice French boy she had met the week before. He invited us to his friend’s restaurant the next day for lunch (ok, well actually he only spoke French, so his friend who spoke French and German translated it to German, and then I was able to figure out what he was saying and translate the German to English for Beth). Then over lunch, (through a game of pictionary) we were invited to rent a paddle-boat to enjoy the afternoon on the river. It was a ton of fun, although the language barrier did prove to be a bit difficult.
Sunday we went back to the studio for the afternoon, but on our way home we decided we should plan a trip since school was out for the next two days for May Day. We did a little research and decided to book a hostel in Leipzig for Monday night, which is only about half an hour away by train. The next morning we walked to the train station and after several minutes of frustration finally figured out the German ticket machine and got on the right train. We arrived in the HUGE Leipzig train station and spent the rest of the afternoon following the directions of a silly walking tour we found in an English Guide to Leipzig pamphlet. Most of the museums and main attractions were closed because of the holiday, but we were able to go to the top of the city’s tallest building to get a good view and to see Nikolaikirche (Nikolai church) which was absolutely georgious! We also saw the church that Bach is burried in and the Volkerschlachtdenkmal monument which was built to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations. The monument was very impressive. It took 5 years to build and was incredibly large. We also ate lunch at an outdoor crape and ice cream café on one of the side streets downtown. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had, although by the time we finished our crapes we were both too full for ice cream.
That evening we checked into our hostel (which was delightfully cheesy with a jungle themed lobby) and decided to try and find a big student discothèque that someone had told us about. Unfortunately, their directions were too vague to really follow well and we accidentally ended up in a German Karaoke bar instead. It was still a great time. It was so funny to hear a room full of German people sing along to American music. At one point they played “New York, New York” which apparently was a favorite because the employees passed out sparklers and threw confetti everywhere. Pretty funny. Beth made friends with Louis (a local Leipziggian) who insisted we follow him to yet another discothèque. I really find all these German discoteques humerious. I would never have thought dancing to German techno with strobe lights would be as entertaining as it actually is. People dance a little differently here too, which makes for some excellent people watching.
Overall Leipzig was pretty fun, but Beth and I both agreed that it lacks Halle’s charming personality. That’s all for this week. Hope everyone back home is doing well!

On the train to Leipzig we saw many bright yellow fields of flowers.

Beth trying out some cool chairs we found.

A very visually stimulating store--so many colors and stripes!

The ceiling of the Nikolaikirche.

There sure were a lot of fiber-glass "sculptures" in Leipzig...

A weird fountain we found. Notice how the water is comming out of the horse's nose and moth. There was also a frog with water spewing from it's mouth. Little strange...

Leipzig!