Eis Eis Baby

Well it has reached the end of our trip in Leipzig! It has been a crazy yet relaxing week exploring the city and going to concerts. The one we saw last night was The Gewandhaus Orchestra and they were incredible!! Oh my gosh it was so good. We sat facing the conductor which was a different experience, but it was awesome. We were right in the blast zone of the horns. 

The horns though... There were amazing. The balance betweenn the brass and the rest of the ensemble was excellent. The woodwinds also had amazing balance. There was one point where the clarinets were playing a solo that traded off and without looking you couldn't tell that it was more than one clarinet. It was an incredible performance. I just could not get over how much sound that two trumpet players produced. It was soooo loud! I really liked that they played on rotary trumpets. 

One of the highlights so far was going to the Mendelssohn Haus. 

This museum was awesome! We walked around in the place that Mendelssohn lived in and performed in. One of our students on the trip even sat down and played piano in the same room the Mendelssohn himself would have given concerts. It was a surreal moment.

The little posts in the picture above are really cool! They each have a certain instrument on them and you can listen to a speaker that has that instrument's part. We all stood by the instrument we played and Dr. Powell stood at the podium and pretended to conduct us. 

I bet you are wondering why my title has absolutely nothing to do with what I just talked about, well... You were right! 

That is what I'm talking about! Eis is the German word for ice cream. You've never truly exprenced ice cream until you've had the kiwi ice cream from Leipzig. Oh my goodness it was good. Perfect pre-concert delicacy. It was a "good day for eating" (Megan Cummings). 

Overall, I loved Leipzig. It is definitely a city I hope that one day I can come back to. 

Today we arrived in Berlin!

I Already sense the transit will be one of the most difficult parts of this city. It is a LOT bigger than Leipzig! It will be fun to see how different a "big city" is compared to a city like Leipzig! Tonight we are seeing the Berlin Phillarmonic and I think I might die. Here's to more adventures in another amazing city!