Another few days, another fun ICE trip. This time it was another tilting ICE set taking us up to Leipzig, as part of its longer trip to Kiel, via Berlin and Hamburg. DB had listed this service as expected high occupancy, recommended reservation and thus we had paid the €4 each to guarantee us seats for our 4 and a bit hour trip. Unfortunately for us DB had factored this in and operated the set with 2 trains together so there was, at least initially, a lot of spare seats in ours, the 2nd train of the set.
The journey was great as should be expected from an ICE trip although, as is now a somewhat recurring theme for us, we arrived with little time to purchase breakfast and lunch so we got food at the station and drinks on the train, which weren't cheap. Also I was disappointed that our seat power point did not work so I only got an hour of blog typing done.
Arrival into Leipzig was a familiar experience for me as I'd had to transfer through here earlier this trip with my parents. We made it to the Holiday Inn, across the road from the station, without any problems because my parents had pointed it out to me during our earlier visit. Belinda and I had booked a great promo rate for the hotel and were thus impressed by the product we got for the price. Our room was in the roof so our bags had to be carried up a flight of stairs because the lift doesn't go that high but it was 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 tram stop out the front of the station into the main part of the city. Here we stocked up on tourist information at the office and then began our walk further into the centre. It was a good way for us to get our bearings and see what the city is like. A lot of pedestrians and cyclists were about and it seemed as though the city was quite active, although this did cause some traffic jams, especially around major work sites of the cross-city rail tunnel.
During our walk we past another outlet of the Australian Homemade Ice Cream shop and visited a few of the department stores and a supermarket. By the time we had wandered around to our hearts' contents it was well and truly dark and we were in need of a feed. As the station is practically on the way back to the hotel from the centre of town we headed there in search of food. Our reward was a yummy, good old fashioned, Pizza Hut all-you-can-eat pizza buffet. I had pointed this out to Mum and Dad when we were in Leipzig earlier and it feels good that I now have closure by dining at this establishment with Belinda.
Back at the hotel we grabbed 24 hours worth of internet access because it was the best price for our needs and used it to do some blog updating, internet banking and so on. This lasted for a few hours before it was time to fall asleep to the soothing sounds of the trams rolling by on the road below our window.
As is another recurrent theme of the holiday, we soon found out that 1 full day was not enought to properly appreciate all that Leipzig has to offer. Our day began with a buffet breakfast in the hotel, even though this was not included in our room rate. Mum and Dad had fond memories of the breakfast here and of watching the trams roll past while eating so we decided to give it a whirl for 1 morning. The food was nice and the selection was probably the biggest of the "Wickaublich" segment of the holiday. It was great to have fruit salad, cereal and a hot food selection again because for the last week we've just had pastries, rolls and individual fruit.
Encouraged by her find at the train station the previous afternoon, Belinda had mapped out the Bodo Hennig retailers in Leipzig (information provided by the Bodo Hennig website the night before) and so we bought some tram tickets and set off on our way. I was happy to see a bit more of the city outside of the central area and to ride some of the extensive tram network and Belinda was happy to be shopping for her doll house stuff, even though the search was generally pretty fruitless. We found all of the retailers but it was often a case of them having a very limited stock but being willing to order things in from the catalogue. We did however find 1 shop that had some rare accessories at discount prices so a few more items were purchased.
After crossing the city on the trams looking for doll house things we returned to the centre to explore a little more and visit the Stasi Museum. On the way to the museum we walked around the area of the Thomas Church, where Bach worked for a lot of his earlier career. The Stasi Museum was a pretty basic and unsophistocated affair, though this quality gave it an appropriate character. There was no English signage but we got by with the English guide and Belinda's translations. It was crazy seeing how things operated and what tools of the trade the officers had left behind when the end of the regime had come so quickly.
We were once again hungry and after the museum it was time for a change of mood so we walked over the Australian Homemade Ice Cream shop and indulged in some nice creamy delights. Of course their products were not made in Australia; the chocolates they were selling (who does this at an ice cream shop at home anyway!?) were made in the Netherlands, we didn't find out where the Belgian waffles or the ice cream was made but we doubt it was at home. The staff spoke English but we stopped short of saying "we're Australian; do we get free ice cream?".
My non-snow shoes were also starting to break by this time in the trip; the soles at the front were starting to peel back, so it was time to get another pair. The first suitable shop that we happened across was SchuhMarkt, where after about 45 minutes we found a pair of brown shoes that were not only the right size but also a dark enough colour.
By the time we were done it was getting dark and Belinda wanted to do a bit of essentials shopping again so we returned to the hotel so I could keep catching up on the blog while Belinda went across the road to the station Promenade to shop. It was then time for dinner, which we enjoyed at the station, before calling it a day.
Leipzig Hotels
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