Tales of an Orchestra Den Mother | Part 7, Heldenstadt: Hero City

Tuesday, April 19: "Welcome to City 17"

Many of us were quite taken with Leipzig. It was a larger city than Halle and, though some sections were levelled during World War II (including the area near our hotel), much of the old world character of the city survived. After 1989, the city acquired the nickname Heldenstadt (Hero City) for the role that the peaceful Monday demonstrations at the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) in Leipzig played in bringing about the demise of the East German regime.

120 people attempting to check-in at once.

Our busses negotiated some treacherously narrow streets to reach Pentahotel Leipzig. We were delivered with such skillful aplomb that everyone on our bus rewarded the driver with spontaneous applause.

The world's most uncomfortable super hero: Restroom Man!

Pentahotel Leipzig had a hip vibe as was evident from the signage. On check-in, I negotiated with the hotel bar to refrigerate The Bear's medicine. They also accepted the cold packs for refreezing, but promptly lost them. 

Caution, nerd tangent: Years ago, I played a first person shooter video game called Half Life 2 that was set in a post-apocalyptic East European city only known as "City 17". In the game, the architecture of the buildings just screamed Eastern Bloc communist construction. When I looked out from my hotel room window, I had a strange sense of deja vu. The buildings across the street from the hotel were a dead ringer for the ones in City 17. Spooky.

Bach's Back Yard

En route to dinner, we passed the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church) where woefully obscure composer Johann Sebastian Bach toiled as music director from 1723 - 1750. 

Group photo with Bach's statue.

Dinner was at Thueringer Hof, where Yana, Zhenya, and I dined with another HYSO parent. I do not remember what we had, but I recall that it was delicious.

Photo by Yana.

Photo by Yana.

Our young musicians seemed to do well with dinner, also!

The next day was a long one that would involve exploration of Leipzig and the HYSO's second performance at Alte Peterskirche (Old St. Peter's Church).