Leipzig

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