25th Birthday Gift

Jared took me to Leipzig for my birthday this last weekend. He served there during his mission. It is in East Germany, a little over halfway between Nürnberg and Berlin. It really is a beautiful city, but unfortunately like most of the cities in East Germany it is rundown, has several abandoned and boarded-up buildings and a lot of grafitti. But I was amazed at how well kept up and beautiful the buildings and parts of the city were that had been maintained and restored. The inner-city was beautiful. There is alot of American influence and you can tell.

This is one of the man-holes in the city. They are all over there. I thought it was so unique I had to get a picture.

Jared found this when he was serving here. When you rub the handles the sounds waves cause the water to ripple. A very fun toy. I had never seen anything like it before.

I think the Bahnhof (train station) in Leipzig was my favorite thing. It was absolutely HUGE!! The two levels below this one have shops. There is over 120 shops there, a regular mall. It is such a beautiful building too. One of the biggest train stations in Germany.

This is a monument that was built in memory of the 100,000 people that died in the war in 1813 with Napoleon. In this picture you can't tell how huge it is. But the man next to it is so handsome and wonderful. Jared and I walked up everyone of the 500 step to the top. Of course, I made Jared buy me something pretty for that.This is a statue of Bach outside the church where he played the organ and was Chorus Master for so many years. The organ is still there. The windows you see behind the statue are stained-glass and about him. His house sits right next to the church.

As you can see we had a lot of fun. We missed out girls though. Since we have been home Alicia has slept through the night each night. That is good news for me, especially since I have a cold now.