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.
