Last weekend a friend and I took a day trip to Leipzig, a beautiful city about 2 hours south of Berlin. It’s famous for being Johann Sebastian Bach’s hometown, and we got to see the site of his childhood home, the church where he was a choir master, as well as where he is buried. We also visited the church where the Monday demonstrations started, which were part of the Peaceful Revolution that helped end the DDR. My favorite sight was the old Stasi headquarters that now house a museum. Seeing preserved Stasi spying equipment and offices made me feel like I had stepped into the past. Leipzig was not only beautiful but also made me think about the banality of oppression and the power of peaceful protest.