In The Cosmopolitan City
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Bach for Teachers participants have been very busy this whole institution, and the last three days have been no exception. Each morning, we’ve crowded into a nearby conference room to hear a lecture series by Michael Marissen on Bach and his Music. The lessons have spilled over into our other activities, and we have found ourselves discussing Bach while at meals, on public transportation, or just when we have a free moment to reflect.
During our break in the lecture (that time when we can recharge our batteries with a healthy dose of coffee and/or mineral water), conversation always focuses on how to spend our afternoons and this weekend. There is a plethora of activities (and places to eat) that are both interesting and exciting in and around Leipzig! Just in the past couple of days, the participants have found themselves at the Stasi Museum, the Coffee-Baum, the Zoo, the St. Nicholas Church, the St. Thomas Church, the Hauptbahnhof, and many more.
Tuesday evening, the group met in the Auerbachs Keller, a restaurant located underground right in the center of town. Famous for its place in Goethe’s Faust and for the statues on the ground floor of Mephistopheles and Faust. According to our guide from the first day, anyone who rubs the foot of Faust is bound to return to Leipzig. (Of course, we all rubbed the foot!)
Wednesday afternoon featured a free tour of the old city museum, however, the tour was in German, and many of us snuck off on our own to explore the museum’s many treasures, including a miniature model of the entire city of Leipzig.
Wednesday evening found the bulk of our group situated in front of huge flat screen televisions at three neighboring restaurants that seemed to spill over into each other. Although Germany was not able to secure a World Cup 2010 finals spot, we were thankful to have witnessed the effort in such a beautiful location. One participant was so dressed up for the game, German natives were actually asking to have their picture taken with him!
Sometime during the first half, a couple of us disappeared to watch the opening concert of the International Bach competition that would be occurring over the next of a days, bringing in students from around the world to compete on piano, harpsichord, and violin. While we were not able to secure seats, we were still grateful to hear the Brandenburg Concerto #5 played in the intimate space.
Thursday afternoon and evening found the most diversity for the participants. The group I was with took the time to visit the Stasi museum, which provided a shocking look of the paranoid society of just a couple a decades ago. Armed with an English audio guide, we wandered around the museum pondering relics and documents. At night, A number of people and I went to piano round one of the Bach competition, quietly noting which competitors we would have to return to see.
Unfortunately, this post is just going to be all text until I can find myself a better Internet connection. Rest assured, the next post will probably be just photos from the past week, chronicling the past couple of days in a way that descriptions cannot do.
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