Triple Trabi action

Trabants are the only cars you used to be able to get in the former East Germany. Aside from Ladas I guess. They're basically built from pressed board and baling wire. You don't see too many of them around Leipzig - especially with a Porsche factory and a BMW factory right here. I captured these three huddling together on the street the other day. I guess they feel a little overwhelmed by all the changes and like to stick together.


Triple Trabi Treat

Euro 2008

Part of the fun of living in Leipzig so far has been that the Euro 2008 tournament has been on while we've been here. The games were held jointly in Austria and Switzerland and while we didn't manage to get to any of the games in person we did watch a lot of them for the first few weeks that we were here. In fact the cycle of most days was: get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to the biergarten and watch the game or games, drink beer, go to sleep. With two games per night for two weeks straight in the group stage there was no lack of football available. Most of the Germany games we saw with our German friends either at the bar or at someone's flat and these were the most enjoyable games for us.

To make things more interesting we instituted a small tipping competition between the five of us (Stefan J was staying with Ruth and Rhett for most of the first two weeks) where we had to pick the result and the score of every game. We also had a sweepstake for the ultimate winner of the tournament. I started out strongly with a few well picked games and then faded with a bad patch in the middle where I couldn't pick a result to save my life. It was actually a lot of fun and quite a close thing because we got to the final between Spain and Germany and there were three of us still in contention to win. I ended up picking Spain (although not the boring 1-0) result while everyone else went for the home favourite and this got me over the line to win the pot. Ruth had drawn Spain in the sweepstake so she got her entry fee back. If Germany had won, Stefan would have won both the tipping and the sweepstake!

It was a bit sad to see Germany lose at the last hurdle but on the night Spain played the better game and were deserved winners. Hopefully our favourite players: Ballack, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Lehman will still be playing in 2010 in South Africa and we'll see them go all the way (unless Australia wins it of course!)

Völkerschlachtdenkmal

The Völkerschlachtdenkmal is the imposing Monument to the Battle of Nations set in the outskirts of the south of Leipzig. We rode down there on Saturday to check it out, climb to the top (93m above the ground at the top) and get a view of Leipzig. It's an impressive structure that was built in 1913 to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig one hundred years earlier. We actually had no idea that this was the case until after we'd been there! It seems as if we're on the trail of Napoleon and his defeats in Europe. Sadly there was no ABBA song about the battle of Leipzig and much like the monument at Waterloo there wasn't much learned from the mistakes of the past.


Völkerschlachtdenkmal


Guardian heroes

The architecture of this monument is very very Wagnerian German - large imposing statues, solid granite and concrete construction and everything on a much-larger-than human scale - celebrating Germanic heroism. The carvings in the front are quite interesting with some relief work and some line art but the most memorable feature are the statues ringing the top of the monument. There were actually plans to tear it down as it was seen as too nationalistic and too "German" while Leipzig was under communist rule. Eventually they decided to keep it as it stood for a time when Russian and German troops had fought side by side to defeat the imperialistic forces of Napoleon. A good thing too because it's really quite an impressive place to visit. Great view from the top too!


Krematorium in the foreground, socialist apartment complex and brown coal power station in the back

Stereophonics at Werk II

We caught our first band in Leipzig on Friday night at a funky converted warehouse south of the city. Stereophonics are one of those bands that you've heard of and you've heard their songs on the radio and keep meaning to get the name of the band but they've never gone on to make it super huge. The lead singer has a really cool voice and they're a solid rocking out 4 piece (with occasional keyboardist) but we were fairly disappointed by how short the gig was. Just under an hour of playing until they went off. Of course it wasn't really them leaving, just the stale old standard of having a break under the guise of being done for the night so that the crowd will encore them back on-stage and they can play their last few popular songs that everyone was waiting for. I have no clue why bands still do this - it's getting really old. Either tell the crowd that hey, you've been singing your vocal chords raw giving them everything you've got and you need to take a quick smoke break, or just don't do it at all. The problem is, the crowd was more in shock that they'd finished so quickly and there had been absolutely no interaction with them at all so there wasn't much calling for encore and when they did come back they only played for maybe another 15 or 20 minutes. For the entry price we were feeling pretty ripped off when the lights came up and everyone shuffled out. I liked their sound and their songs, maybe they were having an off night or didn't think the crowd had much English (belied by the Welsh Flag waving up near the front) but I don't think I'll be shelling out any large amounts of money to see them again anytime soon.

Brussels

This weekend we decided to see how far across Europe we could get in one hit and went to visit our friend Nick in Brussels. It turns out that an eight hour journey is a lot more relaxing and easy to handle if: a) you're not doing the driving; b) you can get up and walk around at any time; c) you have comfy seats and a laptop showing movies; and d) you are travelling at between 250 and 300 km/h! If there was a high speed train out to the lake we'd be there every weekend without question. Just a fantastic way to travel. Especially when the train is on time, clean, comfortable and fairly reasonably priced.

It was a bit of a weekend of high speed actually. Rhett and I left work at noon and had to be back at the flat and pick up the girls so that we could get on the tram to the train station at 12.47. It's normally a 35 to 40 minute drive from work to home, so we pushed on to see if we could make it a little quicker to give us more time. It's a little easier to do this when you're driving on the autobahn. Instead of cruising at 160km/h (100 mph) you just go a little faster! We discovered that the VW Golf will make it over 200km/h, but only just... Needless to say we got back in a record 30min and had plenty of time to pick up our bags and get on the tram.

The train went via Frankfurt where we swapped to another train and continued on to Cologne (Köln). Ruth, Rhett & Josie left us there to spend the weekend admiring the incredible Cologne Cathedral and exploring the downtown cafes and restaurants. We got on a third train and a few hours later were met in Brussels by Nick. Back to his place in a cab where we surprised Keely and her Mum with our arrival and then straight back out again to a great little restaurant a few blocks away.

There's a strange dichotomy at work in Brussels. A city, and a country, famous for its food and beer, and some of the slowest service we've ever seen. We'd been warned by Nick that the restaurant had great food if you could ignore the service, but experiencing it first hand was another thing altogether. It was a very hip and happening little place, cosy without being too crowded and full of a loud and boisterous crowd of thirty somethings (which we fell smack into the middle of as well). Once we'd secured a table it seemed like our waiter was more interested in chatting with everyone in the place than in ever coming over to take our orders. Unfortunately we weren't quite on the ball and when he did arrive with a flourish we only managed to get our drinks order in before he disappeared into the shadows again. Half an hour later after much reminding and nagging from us we got our drinks, minus one of them which took another five minutes and then another 20 minutes later we managed to lassoo him on his way past and get our food orders in to the kitchen. It was actually well worth the wait once the food arrived and even though our waiter was comical in his absence the whole night was really fun. I managed to try 3 different Belgian beers that evening - all of which were outstanding.

The next day was one of mixed missions. There was news that the Battle of Waterloo was being re-enacted that weekend and since Nick and I were history buffs and the girls could think of nothing worse we decided to divide and conquer. We started off following a comic mural trail, wandering the streets of the inner town and stumbling across some fantastic wall art painted by the famous comic book writers that have come out of Belgium.


Asterix & Obelix lead the charge - by Uderzo and Gosciny

There's actually a surprising number of really well known comic book artists that have come from Belgium, including Herge (Tin Tin) and Morris (Lucky Luke - one of my childhood favourites). Uderzo and Gosciny (Asterix & Obelix) are French but collaborated with the Belgians a lot and have a lot of ties to Belgium so I guess they're like the Crowded House of the Belgian comic book world.

At about lunchtime Nick and I headed off, leaving the girls to follow the trail or go shopping (or both), aiming to get a bus for the 20min ride out of town to the site of the most famous battle of all. Waterloo is a tiny little village/town just on the outskirts of Brussels and since the famous defeat of Napoleon there by the combined English and Prussian armies (under the command of Wellington and von Blücher) there have been over 150 different places called Waterloo. And one famous song that was stuck firmly in my head all that day.

We arrived at the visitors centre where you can buy a ticket for the audio visual presentation (pass), the Butte de Lion(awesome), the Panorama(impressive) and a guided tour of the battlefield(pass). We climbed the Butte de Lion which was only built after the battle and dominates the landscape. In fact it's probably more famous now as a visual for the battlefield than the farms and towns of the area.

The Butte de Lion

We also discovered that the re-enactment proper wasn't happening until the next morning and that there would be a smaller skirmish that night at 9pm(have I mentioned that the days are really really long now?). There was an encampment of re-enactors though on the other side of the battlefield from which some intriguing explosions and occasional musket fire was coming so we wandered over there to see what we could find. It turned out to be the English camp and they were drilling for the evening's and next day's battles. It was really quite impressive, during the public hours everything that they do in and around the camp is as close to being like it was in 1815 as they can make it, so there were lots of open fires, linen tents, cool uniforms and very long and heavy muskets. We ended up chatting with some friendly guys from the Essex regiment and found out that there's going to be a huge re-enactment to celebrate the 200 year anniversary in 2015 so Nick and I have made plans that we'll be back in 7 years and take part in it ourselves!


Me with some Prussians

We made it back to the city to catch up with the girls who had been remarkably restrained in their shopping and had a few beers in an outdoor cafe on the square. A great way to relax after a long day in the sun.

All the lovely folks (and beers)!

After another great fun night catching up with Nick, Keely and her mum (and a few more varieties of Belgian beer) we jumped on the ICE train and headed back to Leipzig, happy in the knowledge that we'd indulged in all the right things: history, shopping, art, chocolate and of course beer(I think I sampled 11 different varieties in the end)! We'll be back for sure and try to catch a few more of the murals, buy some more yummy chocolate and hopefully be at the right time of the year to enjoy moules et frites (mussels and fries, with mayo) the Belgian way.

Saxony Switzerland

This weekend we drove down to Switzerland. Well not exactly Switzerland, but Sächsische Schweiz - an area near the Czech border along the Elbe River that is famous for its scenery, hiking, rock climbing and general ambience for those looking to get out of the big cities and into the countryside. We stayed in a huge family sized suite at a lovely little guest house in Ostauer called the Ostauer Ferienhof. It was a barn conversion with a fantastic breakfast nook that stuck out from the side of the building in Ostauer, a little village above the town of Bad Schandau and we spent the weekend walking the banks of the Elbe, climbing up Bastei, crusing the river on a paddle steamer and relaxing in the Toskana Therme (a spa and health club in Bad Schandau).

The first night we were there we arrived reasonably late after the drive down and were not very hopeful of being able to grab any food for dinner. We wandered the streets (well street is actually more accurate a description) of Ostauer looking for somewhere still serving food at 9.30 at night. As luck would have it we stumbled across a tiny bar and beer place in a spot not too far from our guest house where the locals were having a few beers watching a Euro 2008 match on a small TV in the corner of the room. It was really just someone's garage that had been converted to a small cafe and beer garden and after some pretty rudimentary German we got across the concept that we'd like a bit of food and maybe a few beers if that was OK. It ended up being a really great night - everyone in there knew each other except for us but we were an entertaining intrusion on the normal Friday night card game and beers with our various levels of German, convoluted stories about who was from where and how we were living in Leipzig and of course Josie charmed the pants off the owners. These are the sort of experiences that make travelling really worthwhile and the warmth with which we were welcomed into their company for the night was very unexpected and memorable.

The highlights of the Saxony Switzerland area were definitely the scenery:


the bushwhacking we had to do to get through some sections of the path along the river:


the rock formations up around Rathen:


and the Toskana Therme which amongst its many pools and spa baths had a large circular pool called Liquid Sound. This pool was in a darkened room and had a really high salt content in the water so that you floated really well. You lay on your back looking at the light show on the ceiling while listening to the trippy trance music being piped underwater. It was really relaxing and the closest thing I've experienced to a float tank on a large scale. It was a very popular spot in the spa complex for couples to guide each other around the pool with one person standing up and moving their floating partner by feet or shoulders, kind of like a trust experiment in the water. Or you could just make out near the edges. Whichever works best!.

A photo set of the trip is up on Flickr.

On the way home we stopped off in Dresden which is quite an incredible city. After being next to completely razed at the end of the second world war it has been rebuilt almost brick by brick to what it looked like before the English bombing campaign. We'd like to get back and explore it a bit more - luckily while we were there we stumbled onto a music and street festival in the NeuStadt (the New Town which is ironically mostly older than the rebuilt centre of the old town). There were bands playing on street corners, all the streets were closed to traffic for about 8 square blocks and there were a lot of people recovering from the big party the night before, passed out on couches set out in the street or just wandering through the crowds getting ready to do it all over again that evening. We stumbled across a really good modern jazz band on one street corner, and heard an all female choir singing in the main square near the church. On the other side of the church was another stage which of course had a death metal band playing simultaneously with the choir so it was an interesting contrast in styles! We set up camp in a local coffee shop on the square and endured the vocal gymnastics of the death metal band (they had very big amplifiers - the choir, not so much) over a great coffee, some cakes and apple strudel. As a very family friendly free trade organic coffee shop mixed in with a bookstore it was pretty much my ideal place to kick back and relax - shame about all the screaming and yelling going on 100 yards away...

We had a pretty jam packed weekend all in all and can highly recommend going for a visit to the area. I think we'll be back in Dresden at some stage to take in some more of the sights and buildings in the centre of town that have been rebuilt from the rubble and maybe we'll pop back in to that coffee shop and grab another strudel - this time without the musical accompaniement.

Bike trek to Kulkwitzer See

We certainly aren't staying inside while we're in Leipzig! We've been here 5 days now and have already covered quite a few kilometres using all sorts of modes of transport. The train from the airport in to the Hauptbahnhof. A tram to our flat. Walking to the supermarket. Riding our bikes through the bike trails and all over. Cruising on the autobahn at over 100mph. The only things we haven't tried yet are kayaking on the river or canal and sailing. Those are next on the list!

We watched the first games of Euro 2008 over at a friend's place and had our first German barbie. A nice combination of sausages, salads, amazing bread and lots of really good beer. I think I am going to get quite used to the insanely high quality beer available here. What am I saying? I'm already used to it. Bring me another Warsteiner would you?!

We also did quite a big bike trek down along the canals and through the green belt to a coffee shop on the south side of town near where Ruth and Rhett had lived the last time they were here. The network of bike paths and walking tracks through this city is beyond belief. I don't know why you'd use anything else (unless you needed to go a long way - for that see the autobahn). The coffee shop was a great experience in the European sidewalk tradition and we'll be back there for sure - if only for the spinach crostada that Col ordered. They did a pretty mean apfel strudel too.

Today we decided to get a little more adventurous and rode down to the Kulkwitzer See which is one of the three large lakes that are within about 20km of downtown Leipzig. It was about an hours ride down there (my seat bones are really feeling the last two days I can tell you!) and we went through some great areas on the way down. Forests, lots of parks and open field areas, suburban areas, alongside garden market plots and through some derelict rail yards. I'm definitely getting back there to take some more photos...


Cruising through the forests

Once at the See (German for lake) itself we selected our spot under a lovely maple tree in the shade and had a lakeside picnic. It was just so summery, lots of people on bikes, a few sailboats making their way up and down the lake, the trees almost too green to be true. After lunch we decided to go for a dip and that was of course when the heavens decided to open up on us. I decided to take the obvious choice and stay in the water - I was already wet. Everyone else got to scatter to the nearest cover and get all of our stuff out of the rain. We finished off with a lovely bier at the local pub overlooking the lake and then took off home. Of course the heavens opened up yet again - this time with a vengeance - and we were absolutely soaked through but that's what summer is like on the plains. Lovely warm days punctuated by some intense thunderstorms in the afternoons if it's been too warm for too long. I could get used to that. More photos up on Flickr.

Euro 2008 game with Germany tonight so we spent the evening in the biergarten across the road from the flat. Now that is European efficiency! Less than 100m to stumble home. I think my picks in the tipping comp are going well so far although it would have been nice if Germany had managed one more goal.

Way too early in the morning

So this is where all those authors and uber bloggers get all their creativity and time from. They travel halfway around the world every two of three days and are in a perpetual state of jetlag. This means being wide awake at ungodly hours of the morning and having a brain going a million miles an hour way way before it's supposed to be. Hence the tremendous ouput of words and thoughts to teh internets. Very clever of them but I've caught them at their game and will be cashing in soon on my new found knowledge. Hopefully cashing in enough to finish those 12 draft posts I have lying around for everything that's been going on in the last 8 months. For now though you just get the mindless outpourings of a very time displaced me. And maybe some photos. Yes, photos are good. I don't have any of Leipzig yet, but I've put some piccies about the trip that made me happy up on Flickr.




First view of Germany