Architecture and Suburb Adventure - Leipzig, Sep. 20

Yesterday was pretty busy for me and I didn't get back to the hostel until midnight, so I decided to postpone the blog post until today. I also realize there weren't many pictures in the last post, so hopefully that's remedied in this one. I've got a lot to talk about, so let's jump in!

Both nights at the hostel have been a mixed bag, mostly dependent on who else is in the same room with me. The first night I slept reasonably well, the second night was pretty bad. Someone had an aggressive snore that sounded like he was plowing bubbles in a cup. Loudly. For hours. I decided to sleep with my headphones on, because uncomfortable sleep beat no sleep.

I also figured I'd show a picture of the room I'm sleeping in. The decorations on the walls are definitely nice, but that's about the only thing I like here. There's not much else in this room besides the beds, which makes it feel like a jail cell to me. And the bed frames are steel pipes, which is about as cheap as it gets. The ladder up to the top bunk is painful without shoes on, and there aren't any hard barriers preventing you and your stuff from falling off the top bed.

I do realize that hostel dorms are a heck of a lot cheaper than hotels, and therefore won't have the same luxuries available. But this is becoming a bit too cheap for me, I think. I don't mind sharing a bedroom with others, but I can't stand people making so much noise like I've experienced. And I don't mind sharing bathrooms with other people, but the multi-user bathrooms don't offer enough privacy for me. In the future, I'm going to look into finding places that offer single rooms and private bathrooms even if they're more expensive, I need to maintain some amount of sanity on this trip. I've already paid for one more night here in this hostel, but I can manage that at least (plus it's a Monday night, most people seem to have left).

On a brighter note, I've gotten better about ordering food over the last couple days! I've been getting cheap small items (bratwurst, sandwich, drink, etc.) which forces me to place more orders and get more comfortable with it. It's definitely still uncomfortable for me, but I'm no longer spending like an hour trying to build up confidence. Yay!

One thing that I think has helped me with that is the architecture in Leipzig. It's hard to say exactly what makes me prefer it, and I could just be getting more comfortable the longer I'm on this trip. But it seems lot more modern than Berlin and Dresden, which makes it feel a lot more familiar to me. In particular, the businesses have a lot more windows on them so you can see inside from the street. That makes it way easier to tell whether a place is open, and see what is being sold. Here's an example from Dresden with 3 stores. There's a lot of stone showing, not a lot of window space. And even the windows that do exist, it's really difficult to see inside, it looks like the lights are either dim or off (maybe they're closed, maybe not, I don't know!). To me, this just doesn't feel inviting.

Compare that to this example from Leipzig. The wall facing the street is almost entire glass, and there's plenty of lights on inside so you can actually see in. This just feels a lot more inviting to me, since it's clear what's actually being sold, and whether they're popular by how many people are inside.

Now, I'm sure a lot of my opinions on this are influenced by what I'm familiar with from the US, everyone has their biases. But for me, I just prefer when stores have large windows, and it's made me feel more comfortable when looking for a place to buy something.

Another aspect that stood out to me is the scale of buildings. Berlin just felt like a completely inhuman scale, everything was way larger than it needed to be. I've actually seen doors that were 3-4m tall, which is ridiculous. Dresden and Leipzig have felt much more normal, and designed for humans.

I also think there's a bit of a difference in the colors of buildings. Berlin and Leipzig felt a bit dull mostly using light gray and shades of brown. Some of the buildings in Leipzig use stronger colors like white and black (or dark grays), or red from brick buildings. It's definitely not every building, but it feels a bit less dull here.

Leipzig also has a really good pedestrianized area in the middle of the city like Dresden, it's nice to walk around in. This is something that's sorely missing in Berlin, pretty much every street was designed for cars rather than people. Removing cars makes these places feel way safer, they're much quieter, and can fit a lot more people. There's even an entire block here in Leipzig that has no buildings in it, making for a nice big open plaza.

Speaking of city centers, I really like how the train stations are very often located right near the center of the cities. It makes travelling so much easier than airports, since you don't need to spend an extra hour or more at each end of your trip. The central station in Leipzig acts like the main hub area for all the public transit here. Pretty much all the tram lines pass through it, and extend outwards. Which means if you're trying to go around the center of the city by tram, it's not really possible. There are some bus lines that go around, but they don't seem to be as abundant as the trams here.

For example, I looked for the best route between the end of 2 adjacent tram lines. These places are about 4km apart in a straight line, yet the best public transit time I found was just under 1 hour. Driving is definitely a better option, at around 15 minutes. Even cycling is better, at around 20-25 minutes. So the public transit in Leipzig is great for getting to and from the center of the city, not great for getting around other places.

The trams here also seem a bit older than the ones in Dresden. Panels rattle, the seats are hard, and they can be pretty loud. Interestingly, the S-Bahns here are substantially nicer to ride on, they seem very new. I've only ridden them once, but they're a lot nicer than the trams. Which is a bit of a shame, because the trams definitely seem like the most common mode of public transit around here.

Most of my time yesterday was actually spent out in the suburbs with Josh. This is something I haven't been able to do in Berlin and Dresden, so it was nice to experience it here at least. I imagine suburbs in Germany are fairly similar to one another, like they are in the US. There also seems to be a bit more variety in housing options here, rather than just cookie cutter single family houses. While there's certainly a consistent style between all the houses, they don't all look exactly the same as each other. There's also larger apartment buildings as a common housing option.

All the buildings have older architectural styles, but the insides seem to be done in a more modern style (at least, the one I've been in). Another thing I've noticed is that it's very green around here. That's probably because I'm coming from Colorado where it's really dry and brown for most of the year. But still, I think more of the space is reserved for open spaces like parks rather than houses everywhere. On that note, here's something else found in the suburbs that is very German:

​Kleingärten!

These are collections of small garden plots that people can rent to grow their own crops and plants. That's actually the direct translation, "small gardens." The buildings are not houses since you're not allowed to live in them, but they're a lot like tiny houses that can be used to relax while working on the gardens. The plots are roughly 10x20 meters or so, and there's restrictions on how much of the plot can be occupied by crops, buildings, etc.

For those who are into gardening, these are lovely areas to walk through, since there's so much variety on what crops have been planted. It's a great compromise for those who are living in places without any kind of yard, such as apartment complexes. And Germans really seem to like having nature around, so these are actually pretty common around the suburbs. Neat!

I've spent most of today just relaxing and compiling this post, so there's not much else that's happened. Like I said, I've got one more night in this hostel in Leipzig, then I'm off the Nuremburg tomorrow! I've booked a single room in a hostel for the duration of my stay, so that should help me feel a bit more comfortable. Until then, auf wiedersehen!