Leipzig

Our IUSP group went to Leipzig for a weekend. We took a bus through the countryside, which was beautiful in the fall.

We had all gotten used to travelling on the bus by now, as we had taken it to Berlin. Lots of people slept for the four-hour ride.

Our hostel had a bar on the main floor where we met up and prepared to go out for a night on the town.

Mimi made some “free lemonade” by combining the free lemon juice and sugar packets in her water bottle.

Both nights most of us went to a bar in the old city that was really cool. It was inside a recently excavated medieval church that was primarily underground. They had live music both nights and it was really fun. Unfortunately it was too dim to take any good pictures.

The next morning we were all worn out, but were up bright and early to go on a walking tour.

The building in the center is Leipzig University, and during warmer times of year there is a fountain.  The entire area was absolutely gorgeous.

We spent some time going through the old city (altstadt), which wasn't quite as beautiful as Marburg but still lovely.

We visited Nikolaikirche, the church of St. Nicholas.

Outside:

Inside:

More of the city.

J.S. Bach spent a lot of his life here.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the city and scenery. As a whole, Leipzig is definitely the most beautiful city I've been to so far.

We took a bus tour in the afternoon, and took a break at "The Monument to the Battle of the Nations," which commemorated Napoleon's defeat in Leipzig. It's definitely the biggest monument I've ever seen at 91 meters tall (just short of 300 feet) and had some really lovely walking paths around the perimeter. 

That evening we took a trip to the Leipzig Zoo, which is one of the best Zoos in Europe.

Come at me bro!

Penguins!

Lindsey likes interacting with fish.

It has a huge dome that contains a tropical rain forest that acts as an artificial nature preserve. It took us a good 30 minutes to walk through the whole thing, and we were hot from the artificial temperature and humidity.

Overall, Leipzig was a wonderful city. It was beautiful and much bigger than Marburg without being overwhelmingly big like Berlin. It is definitely my favorite German city so far, and I would really like to go back sometime before I head home in June.