Sachsenpark, Im 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 ...

... 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 ...

... stages that had sprung up for the Leipzig festival. Leipzig has been such a grey and dull place that it was good to see it come to life.

We finally found the Asia Bistro restaurant that had been recommended to us and enjoyed a tasty good-value meal.

Our drive home was the first one in the dark, but it proved to be quite easy.

It seems ironic that a day that we remembered as showing Leipzig come to life should have started in a cemetery!

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We caught the tram into town and visited the tourist bureau. Unfortunately it appears that there is not much on at the moment - the festival season starts the day after we leave!

We explored the huge Hauptbahnhof (railway station) which includes a 3-level shopping centre. We had an enjoyable lunch at Pic Cin cafe (spelt that way!) - ham cheese and mushroom crepes for J & A.

We looked at Nikolaikirche and Thomaskirche, both ...

... keys for our room, we went back across the road to get our things - and found that the keys would not let us back into the building! We buzzed the office again and this time he answered and opened the door for us.

We were pleased to find that the apartments had been renovated recently and were quite nice inside. After unpacking, we went next door to the Lidl supermarket and bought some ingredients for dinner (having decided we were too tired to go into town).

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...

... diesen Tag - ja fuer diese Anreise. Da ich ja ein par Minuten (o.k., sagen wir Stunden :)) als Sicherheit eingeplant hatte, galt es nun ein paar Kilometer den Main herauf und herunter zu wandeln, um die Zeit totzuschlagen. Einige Stunden spaeter auf dem Flughafen: Immer noch reichlich Zeit. Dummer Weise verpasse ich aber trotzdem den Zeitpunkt mich an den Check-In der Etihad anzustellen. Ergebnis: eine riesige Warteschlange. Damit aber nicht genug. Im Laufe der ...

... strong links to English I feel I ought to be able to pick it up faster :( I found a small exhibit talking about how the Volkerschlachtdenkmal was built and how it has been viewed and used by successive regimes in Germany since. It was originally built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Nations, where combined European armies succeeded in stoping Napoleon's army outside Leipzig - this was the precursor to Waterloo. During the war, Germany ...

... br>I hope that you all are well. Drop me a note with your own personal updates. I’m in German mode full time now, but I still miss you all so much. As great as this place is to me, nothing can replace friends and family. I wish you all the best, and as always the invitation to visit is out there.

The newest pictures: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?a id=2020898&l=af90a&id=40900130< br>
Gruesse von Weimar,

Rob(ert)(o)

... terrace cafe with style oozing from its warm and inviting interior. Next to it sits a vacant lot, showing signs of being overgrown for years. We walked a lot of the town, and its everywhere. Double Bay abuts Macquarie Fields at any given turn. Its just odd. Claude has found herself quite charmed by the oddity. After 6 days my only verdict is that I hate it a lot less than I did at first sight. We have, by this time, met a lot of people along the way in our ...