On the way to Leipzig from Weimar, we stopped in Sangerhausen (another place where JSB was organist and where he recommended one of his sons take up the organist’s job) to listen to an organ recital in the church. The church is a splendid amalgam of bits and pieces over the years and, like all the churches on this trip, heavily restored since the reunification. Apparently religion was not banned under the DDR but went in and out of favour.

From Sangerhausen we went to Leipzig. The biggest place on our trip and the one where JSB spent the most time. We had lunch in a roadside restaurant on the way and got there with just enough time to check in and go out again to the Salles de Pologne. Yes, that does mean Polish Halls – in French!

It is actually a mid-Victorian hotel, the Hotel de Pologne, named after a visit from the Polish king. An entrepreneur in the 1830s bought three inns and combined them together. When he had a fire in the 1840s, he built the biggest and fanciest hotel in town – the Hotel de Pologne. As you can imagine, it’s been through rather a lot of vicissitudes in the 20C but the ballrooms are still there and used for weddings, concerts etc.

After the concert we went out to dinner. As the average age of the group is at least 65, there was some muttering about how late it was. However, once they started ladling out the free wine, we stopped moaning. Our sub group ate in a traditional restaurant. The main course was pork and vegetables. The pudding was dumpling made of potatoes, curd cheese and sugar, sliced and fried and served with apple sauce. Surprisingly nice.

All the above was yesterday. Today, we had a talk from Sir Nicholas Kenyon (expert on Bach, ex head of Radio 3, the Proms, the Barbican etc). He’s been telling us all about it all week.

The rest of the day has been free until dinner and our last concert. I have been to the Thomaskirke where JSB was in charge for over 20 years.

There was a concert this pm which I couldn’t go to because I was signed up on a walk about all the other composers who lived here – Mendelssohn, Wagner, Liszt, Schumann etc. Unfortunately, because the concert was at 3, I misremembered that the walk was at 3.15. It was at 2.15. I feel someone else has definitely been using the brain cell this week. As it has been bloody hot I had lunch, walked about, went to the art museum then had iced coffee and went back to the hotel to lie in the air conditioning for a bit before going out for dinner again. More traditional stuff – fried fish and veg following by some sort of marzipan filled traditional local tart.

This evening, we have had the culmination of our week – the B Minor Mass in the Nikolaikirche. This was JSB’s other church but was comprehensively done up at the end of the 18C.

Wish me luck, I am off on the train again tomorrow.