Trip to Leipzig with the Anglo-German Family History Society
May 2003

Thursday 8th May 2003 Out & round Leipzig

Up at 0315 (!) after a not-too-bad night & actually away at 0340 in a Ryanair 737. The flight was on time (0625) and twenty minutes early at Berlin - Schönefeld, the old GDR main airport. I kept our bunch together & we soon found our courier, Gerhard Gunter. Confusingly, our coach driver was Gunter something. On the journey to Leipzig, about 2.5 hours plus a break, Gerhard told us more than we really needed to know about how the 'little village in the East', Leipzig (pop. half million), won the German nomination for the Olympic City bid against, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf. In fact, he told us everything about everything & barely stopped talking, all this from memory. For the break, he used the term 'little conference' when I said 'Wir gehen zum Scheisshaus', which rather shocked him. It looks like 'Ortchen' is out. Back on the coach, I asked who wanted to go to a concert in the Gewandhaus tomorrow & got Gunter to ring them. He reserved the nine tickets we needed, just, although they are scattered all over the house. As we zoomed round the Inner City, he named every feature at top speed but people later said that a remarkable amount had sunk in as they mooched round the town, a popular activity during the hot, sunny afternoon. The hotel was better placed than I thought, being just in the Old Town opposite the vast station. I arranged an early dinner for the concert party tomorrow. Avis & I had lunch in the nearby 'Zuckerhut', huge salads & quite cheap. Then, I collected the tickets from the Gewandhaus & we appropriately went on to the Mendelssohn Haus museum. This has been refurbed & is quite a livable place, with interesting relics including some of his competent watercolours. We got in cheap, as they were arranging a banquet & it was very noisy. Good thing they didn't try to play music at the same time. We went on to the Lutheran Nikolaikirche, which was full of scaffolding but a very interesting layout with its white pews & gallery. The Nikolaischule opposite, where Wagner went, is a museum with its web address neatly painted on the wall. After dinner, we went for a mooch round the town, first to Wagner's birthplace now occupied by a ghastly aluminium-covered GDR department store. Later, we gathered this was to be pulled down. We went on to the Old Town Hall Square, packed with people in cafés & saw the delightful Baroque gem of the Old Bourse.

The Gewandhaus, changed a bit since Mendelssohn's day	Beethoven Statue		Mendelssohn Haus
The Opera House, trashed by Bomber Harris & rebuilt	Nikolaikirche front	Nikolaikirche round the back	The Nikolaischule which Wagner attended

Monday 12th May 2003

Raining at first. We went to have a look at Leipzig's truly splendid railway station and then made an abortive attempt to find the Schumann House! We went back to the Augustus Square for coffee (it was quite cold). Then, back to the Thomaskirche for a last look & then, to the hotel for the 1200 pickup for Berlin. I organised a party photograph onto Dee's digital camera, see below. By now, it was sunny & we had a smooth trip to Berlin, stopping for lunch, after which I gave the tips to Gerhard & Gunter and also thanked the party for not being any trouble but dropped the bombshell that I would not do any other trips because of the 'loony in the family'.