May 11 - Leipzig

Sunday the 11th was another beautiful day in Leipzig. We slept right through breakfast and didn't wake up till nearly noon........ jet-lag from the last two days finally kicked in. When we woke up, the church bells were ringing again-- there was a church right near the Hotel Furstenhof and the bells were lovely.

We crossed over the main street just outside the hotel and walked into the marketplace. All the shops were closed (for Sunday) but the restaurants were setting up their outside tables and chairs. I loved that about Germany--- all the outdoor eating. People were just sitting there and watching the world go by... no one rushed you away from your table. On the contrary-- no one ever brought you "the check" until you asked for it, and even then, they didn't rush to get it to you.

One thing I just couldn't understand..... the Germans are very health conscious, with their homemade foods, fresh fruits and daily-baked breads-- but nearly everyone around us was smoking. We ate outside a lot, and kept our fingers crossed that the table next to us wouldn't fill up with smokers.

We walked to the Botanic Gardens in Leipzig--- nice enough, but not worth the time it took us to walk there. They also had a butterfly exhibit, which we paid extra for--- but there was only one lonely butterfly in the entire exhibit, for goodness sake. After a little bit of language-Charades, we managed to get our Euros back for the entrance fee to the butterfly pavillion.

After the Gardens, we went to the Leipzig Zoo--- much better than the Gardens. As far as zoos go, it was pretty small, but it was very family-friendly and set up very nicely. All the animals looked happy to be there, except for one elephant who stayed off by himself and wouldn't go near the other three that were in the enclosure. I swear, no matter what zoo we're in, I always manage to find a depressed elephant. Which depresses me, and makes me wonder why we have to build zoos in the first place.

I can't even imagine how many miles we walked in Leipzig-- we didn't pick up the rental car until after my husband's conference was over. I had bought flat shoes, but my Texas-flat shoes just weren't as comfy as they could be on all those cobblestones. I knew I'd be looking at the shoestores before I left that town.

There was also an Egyptian Museum in the center of Leipzig, which seemed strange to us. Tiny, tiny museum, with a few glass showcases of artifacts and a couple of impressive-looking mummy cases. I think it took us ten or fifteen minutes to see everything they had in that small building.

That night, we had dinner at one of the outdoor cafes near the marketplace. We chose an Italian restaurant for the simple reason that it wasn't crowded and that meant we would probably be lucky enough not to have smokers come sit near us. We ordered individual pizzas.... absolutely delicious, like real NY pizzas. While we ate, there was an orange and white cat looking down into the square from an apartment window above the cafe. The cat was large and serious-looking, and reminded me our our cat Rusty (who died a few years ago). I told my husband that we shouldn't have worried about poor Rusty..... he died and was reincarnated in Germany.

I spent most of our walks around Leipzig looking up, as my Uncle Mino always told me to do when I was walking around a city. Uncle Mino was an architect and he loved and appreciated the designs of buildings, especially the older, more intricate ones. "Look up! Don't forget to look up!"-- that's what he would always tell us when we were kids. Leipzig has some beautiful, awe-inspiring buildings...... Uncle Mino would've spent every minute there just looking up.