September 10, 2024

September 10, 2024

This morning we checked out of our Dresden hotel and walked over to the train station. While waiting for our train, a chocolate croissant was beckoning Aimee so we indulged. We then boarded our train west. In ninety minutes we reached Leipzig and checked into our next hotel across the street.

We walked through the Old Town and found a restaurant to have a pizza lunch. It is cool and breezy so we eat indoors. We really like the Radler beer/lemonade combo so I tried the Diesel beer/coke combo. It is not as good.

Afterwards we took a tram southeast to visit the Battle of the Nations Monument. This huge memorial was built on the 100th anniversary of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig, the largest and deadliest prior to WWI. At 300-foot tall, it is the largest monument in Europe.

We bought entry tickets and an audio guide for our visit. Touring the interior was a little tricky as it has a couple elevators and two narrow one-way stairs. The interior is adorned on two levels with over-size grim hulking Teutonic knights. We eventually make it to the very top where we get nice views of the region.

We then continue in the ground floor museum. This portion of the audio guide starts off very interesting talking about how Napoleon saved the revolution in France and gave hope to other Europeans hoping to also gain personal freedom. In particular Napoleon developed a uniform civil law code that overthrew feudal laws favoring the Royals. Unfortunately after that the narrator got long-winded. Apparently people got tired of the constant warfare, and Napoleon over-extended himself by invading Russia. This allowed the Royals of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Sweden to gang up and defeat him here, restoring the old feudal order.

After stopping back at the hotel, we set off to explore the city. Leipzig has a number of covered shopping arcades in its central core. Aimee was in heaven window shopping. We finished in Madler Passage which has a statue of Faust making a bargain with the devil Mephisto. One scene of this famous Johann Goethe play occurs at the historic Auerbach Cellar restaurant below this shopping arcade. Aimee and I decided to have dinner there.

We have soup and then share a meal of pork strips with gravy and vegetables and potato pancakes. It was very good. Leipzig is famous for Gose Beer. It is supposed to be very sour. I try a version that is sweetened with raspberry liqueur. It is tasty but it looks a little girly especially since it came with a straw. Thinking I can handle the real stuff, I order the straight Gose. To me it is more tasteless than sour.