Nov 27, 2003 04:22 PM
2295 Views
(Updated Nov 27, 2003 04:22 PM)
I got the chance to visit Germany during my management exchange programme. I came here for a rather long period (3 and a half months) to a small town in Eastern Germany called Leipzig. Had my initial frights of going to a communist part of the world but was very much surprised to find it a very amicable and livable place.
I visited other places in Germany like Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt, but I would restrict this review to Leipzig.
As soon as you come out of the main station in Leipzig (which is called Hauptbahnhof, and is the biggest in this part of Germany), you can see the beauty of the place. The strasse (streets) are wide and clean and the plätz (squares) offer plush places to relax. The Leipzig Zoo is one of the best in the country and the city also boasts of places like Bach Church and Beethovenstrasse (which proves the city gave the serenity and environment to so many good musicians to produce their masterpieces).
In terms of public conveyance, the city has superb network of trams and buses. And finally in terms of cost of living, it has very cheap shopping malls, and after making a comparison with other cities of Germany and Europe, I came to a conclusion that it is indeed one of the cheapest city to live. Houses can be rented at cheap rates (probably, that is reflected in the fact that almost 70% of people living here live in rented houses!).
The only negative factor with the city is that the percentage of people understand English is comparatively low here. But that is actually never a problem.
Finally, after spending a substantial time here, I can definitely say .... come here and have a feel of Germany.
As a postscript, I would like to mention that Leipzig is one of the six cities which are competing to become the hosts for the Olympics games in 2012.
