May 9 & 10 - Leipzig

We left for Germany on a Lufthansa flight..... I refused to use an American airline for a flight overseas. Lufthansa was more money, but I didn't care. In my opinion, if you're flying to another country, then use the airplanes of that country. I just feel that it's safer that way.

One of these days, I would like to fly First Class. We were tucked into the Economy seats, and we were in a row of four across, my husband and I in the middle seats. Not as comfortable as you would like to be, especially for that long a flight. I wish I had taken the headphones when the attendants were passing them out, because they showed the movie "Juno" on the way to Germany. But I watched it without the sound, and got the gist of the story anyway.

The first flight went from Houston to Frankfurt, then we had to rush through the Frankfurt airport to catch a second flight into Leipzig, where we had to start the trip because that was the site of the conference that my husband was attending. We practically ran from one end of the terminal to the other at Frankfurt, only to find out that we didn't have to rush at all because the flight into Leipzig was delayed about half an hour.

When we got into Leipzig, we took the train from the airport to the hotel (The Furstenhof). We didn't exactly know when to get off, but managed to find someone on the train who spoke a few words of English, and he let us know where our stop was. (The conductor on the train spoke only German...... a sign of what was to come in many places.) On the outskirts of the town, along the path of the train tracks as they wound through the industrial section of the city, we saw a lot of graffiti, which was disappointing to see.

Gorgeous day when we arrived in Leipzig..... warm and sunny, but not too hot. I had worn jeans on the plane, and I was thrilled to know that I had a pair of capris in my suitcase, which I changed into when we got to the hotel. We had decided to just check into the hotel, freshen up, and then walk around the town, trying to stay awake as long as we could, even with the seven-hour-ahead time difference between home and Germany. We had both taken naps on the plane anyway.

Leipzig was like a small city and a quaint village, rolled into one. Cobblestone streets winding this way and that way around a central market filled with shops, restaurants, cafes, and some of the most beautiful buildings I had ever seen. There is a church in Leipzig where Johann Sebastian Bach is buried. Bach is big in Leipzig-- there is a monument, a museum, a cafe--- filled with everything Bach.

During the few days that we were in Leipzig, there was a Gothic Convention--- there were hundreds of Goth-outfitted people.... some teenagers, but most were in their 20s and 30s, and some were way over 60, for goodness sakes. The goth outfits were very elaborate, very ornate, with lots of black leather, silver chains..... none of them looked to be too comfortable, especially in those warm sunny days. I have to say that even though the goth-group weren't too "pretty" to look at, they were all there just having a good time and enjoying their convention.

With the time difference, we were up for 24 hours, not counting the little naps on the plane. By the time our heads hit the pillows that first night, we were too tired to worry about not being able to sleep on a bed that was so low to the floor. The hotel was extremely nice, but their beds weren't what we were used to-- the mattress wasn't a box-spring, but a thick slab of foam that was set on top of a wooden platform. If you got out of the bed too fast, your knees would hit you on the bottom of your chin. But on the bright side..... when we came back from an afternoon of walking around the town and having a dinner at a cafe, the maids had turned down the blankets and left ladybug shaped chocolates on our pillows.

We got lucky that first night for dinner...... we found a cafe that had all of their foods laid out behind glass counters. All we had to do was point to what we wanted, without having to worry about the language barrier. I was thrilled to see salmon and tossed salad behind those gleamingly clean glass counters.

Friends of ours had told us that the German sky stays bright till nearly 10 p.m., so we weren't surprised that when we fell into bed at seven o'clock that night, it was as bright as noon-time outside. We were surprised, however, when the sky was noon-time bright at quarter to five the following morning. The brightness woke us up, as did the church bells ringing out all over the village, starting at six in the morning. Welcome to Germany!