Bach to the Future

So Leipzig wasn't quite what I expected. I had heard that it was multicultural, I expected that that would mean it was a bit edgy and a bit arty. In reality it meant that it was easier to get a pho than  bratwurst. It was strangely difficult to eat German - or maybe the person I asked for recommendations was an idiot ("Where can I go for some local food? I want something really GDR." "Try Vapiano, that's really good." "Isn't that a chain Italian?") - I ended up in the German equivalent of Brewers' Fayre eating an underwhelming pile of pork.

Anyway, enough about food (never enough about food), Leipzig tricked me with some culture. They had a concert, doing some Bach at St Thomas Church where Bach was kantor. That sounded pretty Bachy (ergo pretty cultured) to me, but the whole experience turned out to be a bit religious. The bounders.

I had the obligatory bleak museum trip today - the Stasi museum in the old Runde Ecke headquarters. I think that that's the most fake noses I've seen in a museum.

Other Leipzig observations:
- they love an alleyway;
- they have probably the shiniest church i have ever seen;
- they don't seem to be set up for foreign tourists;
- I wasn't set up for week-old snow.

Talking of which, my afternoon in Berlin slip-sliding through slush was a very different Berlin to the 30 degree football frenzied Berlin that i visited a decade ago.

One other thing, the efficiency of German public transport is wildly exaggerated. I can cope with fifteen minute delays (that just reminds me of home), but unmanned stations where cash machines give out fifties and the ticket machines don't accept them smells a bit like inefficiency to me. Sort it out, Germany, I expect better of you.