Leipzig letter continued:
By the time we walked to the tram stop and then took the rather long trip into the center of the city, it was about 10:30. We did notice what we thought were signs of neglect in this East German city—many boarded up houses, and many where the stucco covering of brick walls have fallen off. And lots of graffiti.
We got out at the main railroad station and followed our fellow travelers into a huge building that looked like a train station. Actually, it turned out that we were following them into a mall – because there is a huge and kind of interesting mall in the train station. Since we aren’t into malls, we just found a mall information booth, and asked them where we would find the city information office. It was a short walk – across the street, across the construction site, etc. By the time we left the tourist office, it was about eleven. But we knew where we wanted to go, how to get there and where there was an internet place. Internet first since it was closest. We cleared out our mailboxes and it was noon. So next stop was lunch. Bratwurst brotches (short, crispy rolls from which the bratwurst sticks out a couple of inches on each end) from a tiny place that sold only a few lunch items but had outside tables.
Now we could go to the outdoor market, even though we really didn’t need or want anything. Except for some raspberries. (I never pass up raspberries.) Next stop, the Nickolaskirche – the oldest church in Leipzig and one of outstanding beauty on the inside. It isn’t as famous or as fancy as the beautiful cathedrals we’ve been seeing, but it was somehow more personal. Smaller in size with painted columns of green and pink/peach, it will be among our favorites. The church is also famous because it was the scene of the first protests against the East German government that ended in the destruction of the Wall. Luckily for us, there was to be a concert in the evening, so the organist was practicing on the organ.
Ron also took pictures of the Gasthaus (hotel) across the street because that building was originally the school where Wagner & Leibnitz both studied Latin. We started walking again, and soon came to a store that resembled the Job Lot stores we have in the U.S. We obviously could not pass it up, and indeed we bought a small assortment of things that we really do need.
A further walk brought us to a very old ratskeller (a basement bar). How old? Goethe had used it by name in a scene in his play, "Faustus". It took a long time to get pictures of the statues of the characters in the play that are outside the entrance because so many people come by for just that same purpose. In fact, the foot of one of the figures has been rubbed so often by passers-by that it was a bright brass color. We took lots of pictures of the outside, but we didn’t go in.
Instead, we set off for another church. Johann Sebatian Bach spent the last 27 years of his life as choirmaster in the Thomaskirk in Leipzig, so we went off to find it. It’s not far away, though construction made it harder to get to. It was a modest church, which has been rebuilt to reflect the way it looked when Bach was there – including putting in an organ which is like the one that Bach used. We enjoyed that visit, although it was somewhat spoiled by knowing that that church had treated Bach very badly during his whole tenure. Anyway, we decided against going to any other museums. We had been walking around since 9:15 a.m. and it was already 3 p.m.