Mark Hotel Garni Leipzig

... and comprehensive going from Roman times through to the history of both wars and the period of the Wall..it's so huge that it takes us hours. We have an audioguide and there is just so much cool stuff. There is a a book written by Mozarts father on how to play violin, there is a book by the Brothers Grimm. There is Napoleons hat and Sword that he left in his defeat, there is huge sections of the Berlin wall... the display with the most impact for me, was the ...

... were pretty and the rope climbing frame near the monkeys was a hit too.

Unfortunately, there was a long drive ahead, as we had planned to get to the Netherlands, so we had to cut the visit a little short. In the end we set off around 1.15pm and drove solidly for about seven hours, plus an hour's break. Once again the Michelin guide had underestimated the journey. It had suggested a five hour trip (yeah, right! Me and my helicopter!)

... park and cemetary complex next to the memorial.

We bought some hot dogs from a street stall to augment lunch, trying to warm up a little! Fortunately the sun came out for a few minutes while we had our picnic.

After lunch, we drove back into town, parking at the underground carpark below the Hauptbahnhof - it is a 5 euro maximum charge, so cheaper than 3 of us on the tram. We walked through the old town (Mitte) to the Gewandhaus hall ...

We slept in until 9:30, with only a few disturbances overnight. We had been worried about noise from the trams outside the door and the railway line next door, but it wasn't bad enough to wake us. The renovation included double-glazed windows, which certainly cut out a lot of noise.
We spent the morning pottering around in the apartment, and trying to arrange for a load of washing - but the man was off having his foot treated so we couldn't (or get onto the ...

... autobahn and stopped at a conventional roadside bay, choosing the table most sheltered from the cold wind and finishing off our leftover wiener schnitzel with salad.

We arrived at Leipzig at a reasonable hour and fund the road our apartment was on (Torgarstrasse) with no problems. However, with 400m to go, we were met with our now familiar problem - the road ahead was blocked by roadworks. We followed the GPS advice to find an alternate route, but of course ...

The Start of our Travel was the regular Train-Journey from Zittau to Leipzig. A not very spectacular drive, which we do almost every week. We wanted to use the time to improve our spanish skills but ended up talking to some carneval-junkies, boarding the train some 15 minutes after us...

... aenderte sich die Anzeige von planmaessiger Abflugzeit 22:10 auf 23:50. O.k. der Anschlussflug war damit noch nicht gefaehrdet und die 15Euro Gutschein konnte ich auch noch verwerten. Nach zwei Bieren aus dem Burger-King (die 15 Euro mussten ja irgendwie aufgebraucht werden) aenderte sich die vorraussichtliche Abflug dann allerdings auf 0:50Uhr, was sich dann mit den Anschluss schon um 10 Minuten ueberschnitt. Laut Aussagen der Fluggesellschaft sollte dieser ...

Leipzig had one of the coolest museums we've visited so far: one dedicated to the operations of the GDR (East German) secret police, known as the Stasi. The GDR kept extremely detailed tabs on EVERYONE in their country, employing spies of all ages and collecting and filing all the information. The Stasi Museum (Museum an der Runden Ecke) was their old headquarters in Leipzig and has been kept as it was to show the oppressive nature of even the Stasi workplace. Very exciting and VERY cool!

... the same concentration camps. The exhibition showed what life was like under the communists and how the Stasi made life so difficult. It also chronicled the uprisings and demonstrations. We saw a section of the Berlin wall and watched some videos of the wall coming down and people pouring across the border. There is a lot of construction work in the centre of town around the town hall so we weren't ...

... It is essentially as if David Jones merged with the Two Dollar Shop, then forgot to pay the electricity bill and let their staff sell secondhand furniture amongst the other goods. And that's been the story in Leipzig. Occasional flashes of the new, but overall it remains your chance to experience the old East Germany. We can keep it this way, just don't mention the Wall. * * * On an unrelated topic, our sample of CNN at Hotel de Dump has seen them ...