Blogs from Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, Europe - page 6

My journey began with an early morning drive to Seattle. Laurie went into the airport with me to make sure everything was squared away. We checked my bag and said our goodbyes at the security checkpoint. I then made my way to my gate - the calm before the 10 hour flight to Amsterdam. The flight went surprising well - no turbulance, only a few crying children and a nice neighbor traveling to Hungary. There was on demand movies also. It was great. I didn't even listen to my iPod! More importantly, the food was fantastic! I was shocked after hearing some horror stories. In Amsterdam i didn't see much. After going through the passport check there were only a few things - currency exchange, a bar and a last minute market. Everything was just a ... read more

Day 11 - Sunday in Germany I see it’s Spring now and the weather so far has been awesome. I hear it’s very warm in Des Moines. But 45-50 degrees so far is what we expected here. The weather is now turning just as Carole is leaving. Thanks Carole! I got up at 3:30 am to see Carole, Marti and Cate off to the airport and went back to bed. That was a mistake. I fell asleep for 3 hours and felt awful. Good thing I was already packed. Ate the last of our fabulous breakfast and let me tell you our breakfast at the Berlin Ramada hotel has been FANTASTIC! The breads and croissants are to die for. The bacon and eggs are like ours and the juice and coffee, very tasty. I hate to ... read more

Lufthansa bis FfM war gut, der Rest eben mit Air China... man könnte sagen, es war ein Vorgeschmack auf ein Land, in dem die Leute offensichtlich kleiner sind.... read more

Of Carneval, Bach and Hot Chocolates Last weekend, that was on the 3rd of February, 2008, we decided to go to Leipzig (home of Johann Sebastian Bach). Because the Karnival was going on in Cologne, which is 5 hours from Berlin, we decided to go to Leipzig (only an hour and a half) instead. Karnival is a festival that takes place in most German cities at this time of year, where people dress up, there's parades and music, and most importantly lots of drinking and partying. Well, when we arrived in Leipzig on Sunday afternoon (that is Mischa and I, our friends from Ireland Nikki and Tori and the amazing Alice from Oxford, who is definitly my best friend over here), the parade had nearly finished. But we still got a good glance at what ... read more

What a quaint little airport Altenburg is, if indeed it can even be called that. As the planes wheels touched down, I searched amongst the forest for a building that would resemble a terminal, and finally spotted a small shed-like building! The luggage conveyor was about 2m long each way, so you had to be quick to get your bag before it disappears again! Craig and Andrew collected me on their way to Chemnitz where they were doing the beach boys act at a bank's gala function. Wow, they're brilliant! And was so nice to see them live! Spent the next day exploring Leipzig with Craig, including attending a German theatre, where everyone from trapese artists, acrobats, magicians and a drag queen did their performance in the setting of a salon. Quite different. Cant say ... read more