Blogs from Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, Europe - page 5

We arrive in Leipzig in late afternoon, rested a while, then went to the famous Auerbachs Keller for dinner, just as Goethe often did. Rubbing the left foot of the Faust statue outside the restaurant is said to bring good look. Eating at the restaurant definitely brings good food. The next day we made a walking tour of Leipzig. The most interesting things in Leipzig are within relatively easy walking distance of one another. Leipzig has long been a university town with resultant and connected cultural and intellectual interests. In the late 1600’s Gottfriend Wilhelm Leibniz was the co-inventor (with Isaac Newton) of calculus, and also made contributions to graph theory as well as philosophy. Goethe was provided a house in Leipzig and wrote Faust there. Students at the University have included Friedrich Nietzsche, Leibniz, Richard ... read more

17th March '09: Yesterday should have been uninteresting - simply a travel day across Germany and into the Czech Republic. But the police got us. No shoot-outs or roadblocks I’m afraid, just a gentle slap on the wrist and a manageable fine. No, I didn't get caught making tea while driving. Nor was I caught red-handed at the wheel with a trombone but no hands-free kit. Would you believe that the offence was speeding? - in a truck on a motorway? It's ridiculous. As you should all know by now, trucks are governed at 90km/h. The speed limit in the United Kingdom - if we could ever reach it - is a rapid 100km/h. That at least gives us something to aim for down hills. But in Germany... Absurdly, the speed limit here for trucks is ... read more

Once upon a time, there was a beauty and a beast... I. Beauty Beauty did not seem concerned by the kids sporting mohawks and wearing ripped fishnet stockings. Beauty didn't even seem concerned with the pet rat. Beauty knew that they wouldn't detract from her beauty. *** I am told Leipzig looked a little worn around the edges during the GDR era, with the heavy industry that dominated the region and with lack of official concern for historical preservation. Hard to believe now. This city once was a prosperous center of trade (it boosts one of the oldest remaining trade fairs, one with origins in the Middle Ages), which allowed it to support a major intellectual and cultural scene. The likes of Liebniz and Goethe attended the University of Leipzig; Johann Sebastian Bach served as cantor ... read more

Bir Üsküdar balkonunda guruba karşı demlenir gibi Bir akşamüstü, Laypzig’te, tramvay durağında Tadını çıkara çıkara, yudum yudum kederleniyorum. (Nazım Hikmet, 22 June 1958) One of my favorite poems by the Turkish poet Nazım Hikmet is a short pang of longing for his home in Üsküdar, on the Asian shore of Istanbul, a longing evoked by a sunset he witnesses while waiting at a tramway stop in Leipzig. I never imagined when I first read the poem that I too would be standing at a tramway stop in Leipzig, more than fifty years after Hikmet did so. But here I am. Hikmet, an avowed communist, spent much of his adult life in exile, including a brief stint in this second city of the GDR, Leipzig. Somehow, it seems appropriate that I’m following in his wandering footsteps as ... read more

So German graduations and American graduations are on entirely different ends of the spectrum. Personally, I feel they know what they are doing - minus the whole speaking in German :) We had a party of eight - Alex's grandparents, Andra, Frank, Christoph, Steffi, Alex and myself. I met Christoph and Steffi a few hours before. They are super nice and speak English :) I soon learned that Andra is not the only Moeller with a lead foot - Frank and Christoph raced us across town to get to the graduation. It began with dinner, well, wine actually - but dinner followed shortly after. We also had to go for pictures, of course. The whole night was a little bit difficult for me because everybody was speaking in German. I spoke with Christoph some but for ... read more