Sights and Attractions in Leipzig

SIGHTS

Leipzig is the gateway to the ‘Vogtland’, ‘Thiiringer Wald’ and the Ore mountains (Erzgebierge). Eisleben, birthplace of Martin Luther, is not far away nor is Altenburg the Skat town with its castle and playing cards museum (Skat is a traditional German card game). In Leipzig are exhibition and congress halls, the university and the ‘Gewandhaus’ where the annual music festival takes place.

The sailors loved to have cadets onboard because the cadets would be given all the grim and ghastly jobs that the sailors would otherwise have to do. The deck officers loved to have cadets onboard because they could finally get the low jobs done without the AB’s sullen mutterings and resentment and such bad grace that the job never got done properly anyway. Cadets could simply be ordered to do things. The senior cadets loved to have junior cadets onboard because it meant that they escaped all the rotten tasks that were given to those at the bottom of the heap. The captain and chief officer loved to have cadets onboard because it made the whole ship run in a smoother manner and it raised them to even greater heights: there was a huge gulf between top and bottom. The stewards resented the cadets onboard because they had to serve them in the saloon. Although they were quite happy to serve the officers, because that was their job after all, they found it demeaning to have to serve boys fresh out of school with no status or position whatsoever. Senior cadets were just about acceptable, but serving a first-tripper was mortifying for any steward, so they served first-trippers in an unpleasant manner, striving to make them as uncomfortable as possible. All the officers liked to have cadets onboard because the common tasks affecting everyone – such as who was going to run the projector on film night, who was going to restock the bar fridge, who was going to fetch this or deal with that – could now all be settled onto the cadets. It was satisfactory all round, except for the cadets.