After visiting the huge Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig we went to Dresden. The Autobahn between Leipzig and Dreseden was not heavily used during the daytime.

For dinner we went to Suppenbar, a soup bar in the Neustadt, north of old city center. They offered several kinds of soups including vegetarian ones. I opted for a Bauernsuppe (peasant soup) which was quite delicious and spicy. The interior looked simple and modern, invited us to extensive talks by the indirect light and colored walls.

The next morning at another venue we had to wait for quite some time for breakfast and went to the MHM (Militärhistorisches Museum), the museum of military history. It is run by the Bundeswehr and was reopened 2011 with a new design by Daniel Liebeskind. It shows history of military starting in medieval time up until today with parts of the current military endeavours of the Bundeswehr, for instance in Afghanistan.
I recommend to attend the tour which roughly gives you an overview of the huge 10.000m² area. Afterwards we went through the different areas, in the end we were exhausted and a bit short of time as the museum closed.

The old city centre was really impressive and is completely restaurated. The huge buildings show the power of the saxony rulers from the past. Zwinger, Semperoper and Frauenkirche are just parts of that ensemble of old buildings.
Frauenkirche was not as expected on the inside its just painted concrete instead of real marble.

As a conclusion I am looking forward to come back and see more of this exciting area, but next time in the summer.

With plenty of traffic jams in Bavaria it took almost twice the time to arrive in Leipzig.
Checking out a parking spot with no fees attached was easy with http://m.gratisparken.de/ – really nice service to check out the unknown neighbourhood.

After quite a breakfast we explored the city center with its many old buildings and passages.

The Neues Rathaus is also quite a massive building we went inside, looked around and took the pathway on the first floor over to Stadthaus.

The university to the south was built on the spot of a multi-century old church. That church survived centuries of wars including 2nd World War. It was demolished by the SED regime in 1963 to make place for new buildings.

A must is to eat in Auerbachs Keller which is where Goethe ate and later decided to put a reference in Faust.

Next stop was the Runde Ecke (round corner). It is the former Stasi (secret service of GDR) base in Leipzig and now a museum which shows the life of people under surveillance in German Democratic Republic, the East Germany.

It quite reminded me of 1984 and showed all the crazy efforts including opening mail with steam to read private letters, secret agent equipment like fales beards and a “false belly” cam. All that effort by so many people for such a foul cause made me sad. All that power could have been used for something more lasting…
Nowadays we provide our private information willingly via the internet and mobile phones, so no force or huge secret apparatus is needed anymore.