Hello world!

So, this is Leipzig Zeitgeist’s first blog – a place for all the interesting things we Zeitgeisters see, do and experience in our ‘little Paris’.

We hope you enjoy reading it – as much as we enjoy living in, and writing about, this fabulous city.

First up, I want to tell you about a great new Welsh band that were in town a week ago. The Roseville Band played at Stoned, our favourite new venue for playing Bingo (see our current issue of LZ) and listening to the latest folk/punk/bluesy rock and roll! After the event, I managed to persuade two of the lads (singer Andy Jones (left) and drummer James Edwards (right)) to have their mugshots taken with Derek Hedges (centre) – Stoned’s lovely boss!

One of the things I love most about Leipzig is cycling round the city and looking our for a favourite ruin to add to my collection. These old buildings not only emphasise Leipzig’s rich and varied history – but they also allow you to keep tabs on how the city’s regeneration is progressing. One week you might cycle past a building looking very, very sorry for itself – and 6 months later, the next time you’re cycling past, it could easily have been transformed back to its former glory.

Sometimes, however, the only answer is complete destruction – especially in the case of some of Leipzig’s DDR architecture (if you can call it that). One current favourite past-time of Leipziger’s is watching the gradual disappearance of one of these monstrosities that was attached to the ‘Blechbüchse’ building (formerly Karstadt and so named because it resembled a tin box) near Goerdelerring tram stop. Hopefully the Blechbüchse will be rebuilt at some point, but I think we can all do without the reappreance of those apartment/office blocks, or whatever they were….