So far I have been loving Leipzig–I came in with few expectations and have been really impressed by the city. My two favorite things: the city center and public transportation. The city center is quite beautiful and so gloriously car-free! There is so much to look at when walking around–cute bakeries, clothing shops, nice restaurants–and because of the goth festival that occurred this weekend, there have been a lot of food/drink carts, and there’s been live music playing. I also love how there is little pattern and uniformity to the city center–there are often little alleys that lead to other shops. In terms of public transportation, I am so jealous! I wish that Chicago, or more broadly America, had public transportation that was this convenient. I especially like the street cars (Straßenbahnen).
The Bach Archive was such a cool experience. Herr Wollny did an excellent job of giving us the context of each artifact that he showed us. I thought it was fascinating that when he showed us the journals of Bach, the signature displayed on the pages was originally Bach’s, but changed from Bach’s to someone else’s at a certain date, since he had someone else interact with clients as he became more well-known. The building that we were in, especially the rising hole in the ceiling that gave way to a tiny performance space, was very cool and really indicated the wealth that the owners had at the time. Seeing the manuscripts and the crossed out music notes was really neat as well. Everything we have learned about Bach so far has indeed changed my perception of Bach. I will try to approach Bach slightly differently when playing it henceforward.
Over the weekend I also went to Berlin (for a pretty short time). I arrived late Saturday afternoon and went to see the Berlin wall briefly. I had seen a piece of it in Chicago before–there’s a small segment of the wall in Lincoln Square—but this was obviously a very different experience. A lot of what I assume used to be the wall has been reduced to a line of rusted metal rods (shown below). At the monument there was also a structure that contained the portraits and names of individuals who died at the Berlin Wall or in connection with the East German border regime. I left Berlin the next day in the early afternoon, so I did not see that much of Berlin, but from what I experienced, I think that I actually enjoy Leipzig more. It is a newer, cleaner city–Berlin was somewhat dirty, messy, and chaotic, though I was happy to see it again after so many years. One very cool thing happened to me as I arrived at the Berlin Central Station to return to Leipzig: I saw this famous cellist whom I recognized from Instagram. Her name is Anastasia Kobekina and she was carrying her cello and walking with her boyfriend. I really wanted to talk to her, so as I mustered up the courage to go up to her, I followed them around and eventually into a Pret a Manger. This story is really anticlimactic because I ended up being too scared to talk to her. I am really mad at myself though because seriously what is the worst that could have happened?! Anyway, that was my weekend. I look forward to the rest of our time in Leipzig together; there is still so very much to do and see!
So glad you’re enjoying everything! Berlin is such a different experience than Leipzig — it is such a big, messy, complicated city, and it’s hard today to imagine the impact that the wall and the separation had for some decades. I remember very well the night that the wall came down; and in celebration of that, Leonard Bernstein conducted a performance of Beethoven 9. My husband and I were on vacation in Vermont and we watched the whole thing unfold. I was then there several years later where you could buy pieces of the wall and they were selling Russian army paraphernalia – I bought a fur hat that I wore for years!
I’m terribly shy about speaking with famous people — but in the end, they’re happy to have fans, so it’s always worth doing! Thanks for sharing this! (BTW< it was fun to sit next to you at the second half of the cello suites concert lsat night)