Friday, 25 June 2006
I arrived in Leipzig around quarter past noon. Alight from the train, I was already caught in the frenzy of the WM fans. Sporadically, there were whistles, drums, other musical instruments or otherwise noise-makers. People were shouting, cheering, dancing, chanting, running around, checking scores, wearing flags, or holding a card that said something like "I need a ticket for tonight's match" (in Leipzig, Paraguay against Mexico, if I remember correctly).
Exiting the train station, I was greeted by the Nikolaistrasse, a narrow cobbled road filled with crowd, WM or non-WM. To both sides of the road, souvenir shops, cafés, and ice-cream shops. People were buzzling everywhere.
There is something gravitating about the Leipzig crowd that tends to draw you in, making you want to be a part of the crowd. I believe that the vibrancy in Leipzig does not simply draw upon its own resources and residents (like Cesky Krumlov), but rather sucks in the visitors like a planet passing through an asteroid cloud. This, I found, made Leipzig as I knew briefly it to be a unique and fascinating city.
I only had about 1.5 hours between the train changes, so I didn't have that much time to see in Leipzig. But I did walk around a little bit, seeing some churches, buildings, and the Augustus Square, which was converted into a WM fan park, complete with the official WM souvenir store opposite from it (I was almost tempted to buy a WM pin as a memorabilia but for the fact that it cost 6 Euros).
When I returned to the train station, I was about 30 minutes early, so I just bought an ice cream, and stepped aside, watching people go by. When my train departed at 13:50, I was sorry that I had not had the chance to explore Leipzig more.