My first impressions of Leipzig are that it is an extremely attractive, comfortable small city which is easy to walk around and is a safe place.
The buildings and streets are tremendously well taken care of and attractive with virtually no shop units to let or vacant. It has a feeling of affluence with a large number of high end, leading brand name shops.
There is an enormous number of restaurants to choose from and prices are excellent value, by comparison with Ireland, for example.
One striking thing I have noticed about Leipzig, however, is that it is a predominantly white city. There are very few black faces.
There are plenty of restaurants from places like Turkey, China, India, Vietnam which I presume are supported by communities from those countries.
But walking around Leipzig, by comparison with walking around Dublin, I am struck by the small number of African/Black faces. I am curious as to why this is the case, and to some extent there is a feeling of stepping back in time.
It is a city that is well worth a visit and what has brought us here is Leipzig University where our daughter, Emily, is doing an Erasmus programme.
Leipzig is also famous for being the birthplace of J.S. Bach, and there is a free Bach festival on at the moment.