I meant to write this entry last week, but never got around to it. Last weekend we had a long weekend due to Karneval (Germany's form of Mardi Gras). We had Monday and Tuesday off. On Friday morning, Emily and I took the train to Leipzig. Emily's and my friend, Lena from Waldsee lives in Leipzig. Unforutantely she was out of town for a seminar, but she was kind enough to let us stay in her apartment. We also were able to meet her roommate Franziska who gave us some great tips about what to see. We both enjoyed Leipzig. It is a beautiful city. Bach spent most of his career in Leipzig, so we were able to see the church where he worked as well as visit the Bach museum. Also, we went to the Museum in der Runden Ecke, which was the former Stasi (secret police) headquarters for Leipzig during the time of the German Democratic Republic. We were able to catch the daily tour and learned a lot about how the Stasi worked and gain insight into the fear the Stasi fueled into everyday life.
On Sunday we headed to Weimar for the day. Weimar is where both Goethe and Schiller spent most of their lives. We went on a tour of the city and were able to see many of the places where they spent time as well as other important parts of the city. Weimar is also a beautiful city. It is relatively small, only 60,000 people, but full of culture and history.
Sunday night we headed back to Darmstadt, so we could go to the Rosenmontag parade on Monday in Mainz. It was really fun! Our train was absolutely jam-packed with people dressed in wild costumes for the celebration. The parade ahd tons of different floats with people tossing not only candy, but also bread, popcorn, and other random things. It was a really fun experience!
The pictures are from the weeekend. The first one is the Museum in der Runden Ecke, the second one is the Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument of the Battle of Nations), and the final one is the Garden House that was given to Goethe in Weimar.
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