Opera or travelling?

The weather can't make up its mind. The Big Meltdown has turned into an icy slippery dip. For two days we had up to 4 degrees and much of the snow melted and huge puddles of water and mud formed everywhere. Much of the snow thawed partly and sat on top of another layer of icy snow-mash, unable to go anywhere. And since yesterday the weahter has dramatically changed again and it is now -7 degrees. The result is that all the water (which has been snow) is now frozen on top of the snow and created a nightmare for people on foot and car drivers. Not to mention the cyclists! But I think even the most experienced German cyclists leave their 2-wheeled friends at home these days. Last night when I came home after having had dinner with an old school friend in the city, I was slipping and sliding home the 20 minutes from the tram stop to my parents house.

As you can imagine, we are spending much more time inside than outside as a result. That gives us time to plan our up-coming trip to Switzerland (starting next Tuesday). We will go to Basel and celebrate our bridesmaides (the twins for those who remember) 25th birthdays and from there we will go on to Luzern for a while and then spend some time with friends in Zurich. As opposed to Michael, who has already seen most of these places on an earlier Europe trip, I've never been to Switzerland before and very excited about the trip. It is especially nice that we won't have to rush around but will have the convenience of local friends who can be our guides. I was never a friend of quick trips with only hours to visit certain sights. I'd much rather go to one particular spot and spend all my time there, taking it all in and learning a bit about the locals. I wonder if we will be able to understand their funny Swiss German!

This afternoon, Michael and I are planning to watch Michael's second German movie at the cinema here in Taucha, Avatar. Hopefully the cinematography is good enough to fill in where he can't follow the conversation fully.

We've also discovered the wealth of ballets, operas, concerts and musicals Leipzig offers. We could almost go to a different performance every night. Yesterday we bought some tickets to see the 'Magic Flute' (Mozart)!!! Should we be spending all our money on concert and opera tickets? Or on travelling? Or on none of these things?

HOW WONDERFUL TO BE HERE!!!