Rocken it with Neitzche (and two photos of Leipzig)

 

We went and paid our respects to Freidrich Nietzche today, because that's what you do if you are awesome. I brought one of his books, "Beyond Good and Evil" for him to sign--that didn't happen, so instead (per Chris's suggestion) I made a crayon rubbing of some of his name onto the title page. Why Nietzche you may ask? Isn't he the "God is dead" guy? So...Nietzche did say some not so flattering things about religion, but I ain't even mad, because that guy was a  brilliant genius. Not just a genius, but a brilliant genius. And his life was pretty dang hard.  Nietzche rocks. The truth is, I have been planning this trip since I remembered he was from Germany.We added Leipzig to our itinerary only after discovering it was only half an hour from Nietzche's grave (but I'm so glad we did as I will soon tell you).

So,the title is a funny joke because Nietzche was born and buried in Rocken. How often do you hear jokes about Nietzche's home town? Not often enough.

 

This is me in the middle of making a rubbing. I stopped because the girls found a ladybug on the tombstone and we had to talk about it. Also, Soapy is wearing a raincoat over her sweater. This is what happens when your winter coat breaks. Don't worry grandparents, a replacement is coming.

Yup, there are three statues of Nietzche in this picture and two of them are naked except for hats.

 

Jojo at the door of the Church Nietzche was buried at.

 

Perhaps actual descendants of chickens that lived in Nietzche's town.

 

Nietzche's house looked at us disapprovingly.

Okay---So then we went to Leipzig! What a beautiful city! Lisa, I am so jealous you got to live there for 6 months. Maybe it's my favorite place in Germany so far. So pretty and so interesting and so full of cool history and cool things.  We didn't take many pictures because the sun was setting as we got there (it was dark before five.) But we liked it mucho mucho. We went to the Auerbach Keller where Goethe visited so often and included in Faust. And Greg and Trish, FYI I felt cool knowing that connection to our Auerbach. We went to some other places and despite screaming kids, and incovenient nursing times, and everything involving traveling with three kids, we made it to Vespers at the Thomaskirche and we were able to hear the St Thomas Boys Choir--which I really really wanted to do, but I didn't think we would be able to make happen. By the way...that is a beautiful choir. I am considering living in Leipzig so that I can just go sit in this church every day and listen to those little boys sing hymns. So beautiful. Leipzig is a little ridiculous. I mean, Goethe, AND Bach AND Mendelssohn AND Wagner AND Mahler? Truth be told, I've only been home from the place a few hours and I've already written an opera. It's about you dear readers.

 

This is how Gracie spent most of our time in Leipzig.

 

We went to a GDR museum and I told Sophie to stand like Lenin She did, and thought it was so funny she kept doing it off and on for the whole trip. Oh, communists...