So it turns out I was without regular internet access for almost a week. As a result, my updates just haven’t been possible. Here is what you have missed, as best as I can recall.
On Friday, October 9th we finally got some freedom to make some decisions about how to spend our day. I went to the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts. I especially enjoyed a special exhibit they had called 60/40/20.
Kunst in Leipzig seit 1949. I also met up with Ryan and Dena there, and we headed to the St. Thomas Church to look at the Peace Window. While I enjoyed David Schnell’s winning design, I think Ryan’s window design that came in 2nd place was much more appropriate.
After a not so tasty lunch (I somehow ordered egg soup), I finally made it to the shopping district and enjoyed spending time in H&M and other great European shops. Later that night, we met up with Julia and Matthias, Thomas and his family, and Alicia and participated in the Leipzig Light Festival which commemorated the 20 year anniversary of the peaceful revolution of 1989 which lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall a month later. It was really great to be a part of that experience.
On Saturday, October 10th, we started the day off with the Leipzig Peace Conference. After that Ryan, Dena, and I headed to the Spinnerei, which is a warehouse district full of art galleries. It was a really great area.
After a few hours there we went to the St. Nicholas church and happened to show up ten minutes prior to the start of an organ performance, which was really enjoyable.
From there we headed to the Rotary gala. We did our presentation there for the first time and it went over very well. That night I had to pack my bags for our departure the next day.
On Sunday, October 11th, we started the morning with church at the St. Thomas, which was followed by a reception and a speech by a historian on the Peaceful Revolution. Afterwards we said our goodbyes to our wonderful Leipzig host families and headed to Radebeul. In Radebeul, we had a very different housing arrangement. This time, four of us were at one house and the other two were at another house. Our hosts in Radebeul were Frank and Rina. They had a beautiful home and made us feel very welcome.
October 12-14 to come as well as photos…
10/15/09
Today it was snowing when I woke up. The temperature has really dropped and an early winter has arrived. Once again I packed up my belongings and said goodbye to another amazing host family. After just barely fitting all our luggage and us into the minivan, we headed to Holger’s body shop business for a quick tour. He also got us a luggage rack box to make some space in the van and put on snow tires. On the way we made a stop in Frieburg for a silver mining tour and then headed to the Auerbach area. Unfortunately the delay from the snow resulted in us missing a tour of the art galleries in the area. We were lucky enough to check into a hotel for tonight. When I heard we were staying at a “guest lodge” I was picturing the worst. I pictured the six of us in bunk beds in one room. Luckily, it is a regular hotel and we each have very own room!
After briefly getting settled, we headed to a wood furniture maker called Die Möbelmacher. They had beautiful wood furniture made from local wood. After the tour we went to the owner’s home for dinner. It was fish and quiche, so I had salad and rice. I got back to the hotel at a reasonable time, but here I am again at midnight hardly keeping my eyes open. This time the problem was that I purchased wireless internet access, but it doesn’t work. I spent a good bit of time trying to figure out was the problem was. Dena couldn’t access it either and of course there was nobody at the front desk. Oh well. Off to bed I go…
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