For many years, once our children had grown up, we have gone away for up to a week to celebrate our birthdays, two days apart, two weeks before Christmas. We look forward to wrapping up warmly, walking round European cities prettily decorated for Advent, going to concerts, museums and cosy cafes and restaurants. The atmosphere is convivial with Christmas markets selling gifts, local produce and spicy mulled wine in the frosty air.
Leipzig was an excellent choice: we rented a studio apartment ten minutes walk from the centre and railway station, the Hauptbahnhof, which gave us fast, direct access to the airport. The modern apartment was in an old house with a steep spiral staircase we climbed every day, imagining all the families who had lived there before the War and also before Reunification. It reminded me of the apartment in the novel, The Reader, and the subsequent film starring Kate Winslet. Each morning the heavy door slowly closed behind us as we set off into town, wrapped up against the winter chill.
I was disappointed that I had missed the opportunity of buying tickets for the Thomas Church choirboys performing Bach's Christmas Oratorio during Advent (it is necessary to make a booking in writing in August) but I was thrilled that we managed to secure a couple of returns from the box office the first morning we arrived. Bach was organ master in Leipzig for 27 years and there is an excellent museum about his life and work in the Bosehaus opposite the church. We visited the church several times, sitting listening to the organ being played, and were seated in the centre aisle facing the choirboys and the famed Gewandhaus orchestra for the Oratorio. We also went to another Advent concert featuring Bach's music at St. Nicholas Church during our stay. We found a charming hotel, the Fuerstenhof, where we celebrated both birthdays in their traditional, smart restaurant: a perfect choice each time with wonderful service and elegant choice of local dishes. We came to know the city well and walked for miles each day, visiting Mendelssohn's house and museum and taking a tram out of town to see the Volkerschlachtderkmal, a giant Teutonic-style monument to commemorate the Battle of the Nations in 1813.
One day we took a fast train to Dresden and visited the Zwinger with its spacious courtyard and the Dresden Gallery of Old Masters, as well as enjoying an embarrass of Baroque architecture throughout the old town that has been rebuilt since the War. We had tea in a hotel overlooking the River Elbe and a late lunch in a delightful Baroque house overlooking the main square.
Another day we took several connecting trains to Potsdam, a place we had not had time to visit on a
previous trip to Berlin, visiting the Rococo Palace of Sanssouci and the Schloss Cecilienhof that hosted the Potsdam Conference after the War. We walked miles that day but that is how best to soak up the spirit of place, recalling avenues of trees, formal parks and gardens, their statues covered and protected against the frost.
Although we were able to buy some provisions close to the station, we mostly ate out in some lovely cafes in Leipzig during our stay, close to the Thomaskirche. Our favourites were the Art Nouveau Cafe Riquet , the cosy Baroque Kandler with their signature Bach cream cakes and Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum, the second oldest coffee house in Europe, built in 1694.
We also had lunch in the crowded Auerbachs Keller, with its 16th century vaults immortalised in Goethe's story, Faust. Our time in Leipzig was a cosy, enjoyable stay, listening to brass bands playing carols with time to browse in shops and department stores and buy some gifts in the market before heading home, fully immersed in the Christmas spirit.
December 2015
Saturday, 20 February 2016
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
I should like to rise and go...
I should like to rise and go
Where the golden apples grow...
Where in sunshine reaching out
Eastern cities, miles about,
Are with mosques and minaret
Among sandy gardens set,
And the rich goods from near and far
Hang for sale in the bazaar...
Robert Louis Stevenson
Travel is one of my favourite pastimes, and I have enjoyed visiting many places over the years. Since my husband and I are now semi-retired we travel for about ten weeks each year and I have organised all the planning. But even when we were both working full-time we still travelled extensively and took our children all over the world. We tend to travel independently but we have also been away in small groups on occasion. We like the variety of 'doing our own thing' and the Internet is a wonderful source of information. Once we discuss our plans initially I start doing all the research and 'report back' with my findings although we are both very compatible in our tastes. As we are not keen on large groups, 'Trailfinders' have helped us in planning bespoke long-haul trips over the years while I have booked European flights, trains and hotels on my own. We like to stay in interesting, attractive, often historical, places fairly central so we can walk to restaurants. Sometimes we stay in hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation or apartments. Some of these are luxurious; others are not. I use 'booking.com' regularly and their APP keeps a record of past and future bookings. There is so much more variety these days compared to the limited choice in travel agents' brochures years ago. Sometimes we hire a car; sometimes we take trains, buses and trams. With long-haul bespoke trips we often hire a guide and driver to ourselves which gives us flexibility to visit places off the beaten track. My philosophy is that, although we might like to return to a place, we may not have the opportunity, so I need to do my homework to plan a trip that is interesting, fulfilling and memorable.
I have a large collection of Dorling Kindersley travel guides. Their colour photographs whet my appetite when I am planning a trip; pages are photocopied and disposed of during the journey, and the books are a wonderful aide-memoire when we are home. 'Trip Advisor' can be very helpful but I take some comments with a pinch of salt. It is hard to recommend specific places as everyone's needs and tastes are different; hotels may change or go out of business. I can only speak for my own experience at the time of staying there.
I am guided by trying to evoke a 'spirit of place', often inspired by novels or films, and I am addicted to reading coffee table books of memorable hotels around the world. I take a small notebook on each journey where I write down my research, then fill the pages with notes on what we did during our stay. I have a stash of these notebooks in the study, collected over the years. I take lots of photographs, print them off and put them in albums, and have often written stories based on travel memories.
My love of travel started in early childhood with family holidays spent in France and Spain from 1960. My father passed on his love of travelling; he had been out in the Middle East for six years during the War; his twin brother had been in Burma and India. But it was their sister Joan who was the biggest influence; she travelled extensively after the War which was quite unusual then. When I was 11 years old she bought me a hardback Atlas ( priced 11 shillings and sixpence) and ever since I've spent hours plotting and planning, pouring over maps and proximities of towns and cities. Some of the names no longer exist but, fifty years later, I have travelled to many of them and look back with very happy memories. That Atlas was an inspiration then, as it still is now. It has to be one of my most-loved books.
Where the golden apples grow...
Where in sunshine reaching out
Eastern cities, miles about,
Are with mosques and minaret
Among sandy gardens set,
And the rich goods from near and far
Hang for sale in the bazaar...
Robert Louis Stevenson
Travel is one of my favourite pastimes, and I have enjoyed visiting many places over the years. Since my husband and I are now semi-retired we travel for about ten weeks each year and I have organised all the planning. But even when we were both working full-time we still travelled extensively and took our children all over the world. We tend to travel independently but we have also been away in small groups on occasion. We like the variety of 'doing our own thing' and the Internet is a wonderful source of information. Once we discuss our plans initially I start doing all the research and 'report back' with my findings although we are both very compatible in our tastes. As we are not keen on large groups, 'Trailfinders' have helped us in planning bespoke long-haul trips over the years while I have booked European flights, trains and hotels on my own. We like to stay in interesting, attractive, often historical, places fairly central so we can walk to restaurants. Sometimes we stay in hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation or apartments. Some of these are luxurious; others are not. I use 'booking.com' regularly and their APP keeps a record of past and future bookings. There is so much more variety these days compared to the limited choice in travel agents' brochures years ago. Sometimes we hire a car; sometimes we take trains, buses and trams. With long-haul bespoke trips we often hire a guide and driver to ourselves which gives us flexibility to visit places off the beaten track. My philosophy is that, although we might like to return to a place, we may not have the opportunity, so I need to do my homework to plan a trip that is interesting, fulfilling and memorable.
I have a large collection of Dorling Kindersley travel guides. Their colour photographs whet my appetite when I am planning a trip; pages are photocopied and disposed of during the journey, and the books are a wonderful aide-memoire when we are home. 'Trip Advisor' can be very helpful but I take some comments with a pinch of salt. It is hard to recommend specific places as everyone's needs and tastes are different; hotels may change or go out of business. I can only speak for my own experience at the time of staying there.
I am guided by trying to evoke a 'spirit of place', often inspired by novels or films, and I am addicted to reading coffee table books of memorable hotels around the world. I take a small notebook on each journey where I write down my research, then fill the pages with notes on what we did during our stay. I have a stash of these notebooks in the study, collected over the years. I take lots of photographs, print them off and put them in albums, and have often written stories based on travel memories.
My love of travel started in early childhood with family holidays spent in France and Spain from 1960. My father passed on his love of travelling; he had been out in the Middle East for six years during the War; his twin brother had been in Burma and India. But it was their sister Joan who was the biggest influence; she travelled extensively after the War which was quite unusual then. When I was 11 years old she bought me a hardback Atlas ( priced 11 shillings and sixpence) and ever since I've spent hours plotting and planning, pouring over maps and proximities of towns and cities. Some of the names no longer exist but, fifty years later, I have travelled to many of them and look back with very happy memories. That Atlas was an inspiration then, as it still is now. It has to be one of my most-loved books.
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