Pentahotel Leipzig

... in the dome. So as a consequence it is around 8.30pm by the time we get in the car and out of the parking lot!<br> Luckily the drive is only around 1 and half hours, we stop at Maccas for dinner as it's fast and keep driving on to Liepzig. We land just after 10pm, to the guy who looks like he doesnt know we have a booking. Luckily his wife knows about us..we get into our room which is clean and comfy and try and decide what we are doing tomorrow.. Rothenburg it is!<br>

... took about half an hour to get to the zoo. By this time, of course, the Swedish snake that Saskia had been desperate to bring with us, had gotten too heavy and lost its appeal. Martina wrapped it round herself like a mad scarf and we went off to see the black bears, pygmy hippos and penguins. We didn't have a chance to see all the creatures. It would have taken too long. We did see the baby elephant and some very cool lizards. The ...

... which was part church service and part concert. The first piece was played on the large organ at the back of the church, then the choir performed a number of pieces by Byrd, Bach, Buxtehude, and Monteverdi. Some were accompanied by a small organ, other by string players. It was beautiful singing, made more so by the environment.<br><br>Leaving the church, we walked back through Mitte looking for somewhere to eat, but also enjoying the stalls and ...

... with JS Bach from the time he was cantor of Leipzig.<br><br>We followed signs to Mendelssohn's house but never found it. Helen was amused by the sign for a coffee shop, which used the green man from pedestrian crossings to say "never go without a coffee" - so we went in and enjoyed coffee and cake, plus their free Internet.<br><br>We caught a tram back to the apartment and bought some supplies for dinner. Having a kitchen certainly helps to cut down on the costs!

... in our jumpers, and it didn't help that there was no response to the buzzer to call the office. We tried ringing them but no answer there either. After about half an hour, Helen tried buzzing one of the other apartments and someone answered and let us in. It turned out that the owner/caretaker/whatever had damaged his foot and tings were a bit chaotic while he limped around in the four-storey building. He was very friendly though, a spoke good English.<br><br>After ...

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...

... Zwar wird uns Eintritt in eine Lounge gewaehrt - aber ich brauche wohl niemanden erzaehlen, wie belastend eine solche Warterei ist. Und noch etwas: es wurde noch ein Zwischenstop eingeplant - in Karachi (Pakistan). Montag ca. 23:00 Pakistaner Ortszeit - wir werden mit einem groesseren Mitarbeiteraufgebot durch den Flughafen von Karachi geleitet. eine knappe Stunde spaeter - unser Flieger (diesmal von Cathay Pacific) startet nun hoffendlich zum endgueltigen Ziel: Bangkok

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!

... a nice room with a great view over the station. There was still some daylight lingering after we had settled into our room so we walked over to the station's Promenade shopping centre to stock up on some supplies. During our time there we happened across a wooden toys shop selling discounted Bodo Hennig doll house stuff so Belinda found some more items to buy and immediately had a good impression of Leipzig. Onwards, we crossed the road and large 4-track ...

... and I recognised a few at the campsite where I stopped. A middle-aged man called Rudi approached me as I was looking for a pitch, "how far have you come today?" - German competitiveness, always charming "sixty kilometers" "not far then!" its not far, but still, there´s no need to be like that... "well, I have a long journey, so I don´t do too much in one day" go on, ask me. I dare ya. British competitiveness, much the same. Seeing I was alone and enthused by my bold plan ...