Lovely Leipzig!

Leipzig, Deutschland. Tuesday, 9th May 2023.

Sleep broke a little after 04:00! The sky was a lovely red. Lazed in bed for an hour and a half, admiring the sky and at the same time trying to get more sleep. Then morning ablutions, followed by breakfast. Set off at 09:45.

To the Hauptbahnhof; tram no. 15 took us through a different area of this charming city; perhaps to confirm our opinion that this is the best German city we have visited. It is truly beautiful! Visited the monument to the battle of the nations – a huge stone structure, right in the middle of wonderful woods. Just before its entrance was a huge water tank. The path from the main road to the monument involved a curving ascent along broad, white stone steps. The view of the city from the top was lovely! The only sound heard on the way back was the sweet chirping of birds. Spent some time there clicking pictures, then back to the Bushaltestelle at Sud friedhof. It is a request stop hence had to put my hand out to stop the tram. Rode back along the same route to Augustusplatz, one stop before the Hbf. I wanted to see the city views from the 31st storey of Panorama Towers which dominated the Leipzig skyline.

Entered the building but found the wrong office. Were redirected to the right one where we were directed to the elevator that would take us to the 29th floor. There we would have to pay Euros 10,00 to gain access to 48 steps that would take us to the observation deck. On the 29th floor, Urmila, weighing all pros and cons, advised me against going further up, as the city itself was so beautiful when seen from ground level, so what was the point in seeing it from such a height? I pondered on this for a few seconds and then decided that she made sense. Had Leipzig been Prague, I would certainly have gone on, just to see the cluster of red roofs from above. Abandoned the idea and went back down. Exiting the building, we found ourselves in the lovely Marktplatz visited yesterday.

Took our time strolling along the spic-n-span cobbled roads, admiring shops with their signboards and show windows. Checked out a huge, well laid-out bookstore named Thalia but it did not have good guidebooks in English! Exited, strolled on; Urmila suddenly spotted a Lindt showroom! Lost no time entering it; and went bonkers! Chocolates galore! So many flavours! Myriad colours! It was mind-blowing! Ended up buying four slabs of liquor chocolates and a marzipan bar. The girl at the counter was very friendly and enrolled us in a promotion scheme wherein we received a discount of 10% on our purchase. The total bill amounted to Euros 9,78; the money saved at Panorama Towers was aptly utilised!

Alex restaurant (the one we had lunched at and thoroughly liked, yesterday) was at a stone’s throw so made our way there, preferring to sit inside this time. Lunched on Chicken crispy with vegetables and Chicken Tikka Masala. Both were tasty. There was draught beer of course – this time I tried a wheat beer, which was awesome!

Lunch done, we walked to Bruhl, checked out an open air market set up in the Marktplatz square. Then walked up to Lidl Supermarket not far from the Hauptbahnhof, to hunt for 250gms. Ritter Sport, but were disappointed! It seems Ritter has discontinued production of the 250 gms. square! What a pity! Came away with just two pieces of bread and a croissant, for the morrow.

Walked back in the bright sunshine and chilly breeze to our apartment building on Kurt-Schumacher Strasse. The railway station building with its bright red roof, partly visible through the green foliage, looked lovely! Keyed in the code at the door to no. 21, but the door did not yield! Repeated the attempt twice, with the same result! I opened my TAB and just as I was about to call Leon Apartments, a tall, smiling man emerged from a car parked just outside no. 21. He took out a key from his pocket and calmly opened the door. Grinning at us, he motioned us to enter. Whew, what a relief! He conversed with us in broken English, grinning all the while, before walking to the end of the corridor and calmly exiting through the rear door that he opened with another key (or was it the same one?) We were at a loss to understand what had happened! Who was he? Why was he waiting in the car before we arrived? Why did he open the door for us? How did he have the key with him? How did he know that we would arrive at that particular time and would need help? Perhaps we will never know!

Back to our room for rest. Did not step out again. Enjoyed the evening in the lovely apartment; rounded up the day with Jim Beam Bourbon Cola for me and Virgin Mojito for Urmila, to accompany Maggi noodles.