Leaving Leipzig

I got one more photo before we left Leipzig for this trip.  I went to research the statue, and found out it was of Sam Hahnemann, who was big in homeopathy, so I deleted it off the blog.  I also will not link to any information about him.  Science: it works.

We made our way to Hamburg, where we discovered I had booked us into a hostel on the Reeperbahn.  To make matters considerably more interesting, our hostel was a brothel, still in the process of being converted.  The Scoundrel has promised to report more on its lecherous insides, and our activities on the sinful mile, so I'm going to gloss over them a little.

Our hostess was kind enough to point out the parts of St Pauli's we might like to see, and parts we should avoid if we wanted to keep our possessions/sanity.  She also sent us up the road to a restaurant called "Schweinses," which became our haunt.  They served a beer called "Duckstein," which none of us had ever heard of, but which the in-menu advertising promised to be a "besonderer" beer for "besonderer" times.  There was no logical way we could pass that up.

And now it's time for the food report.  I got the pork steak with Gorgonzola (pictured here), while the Scoundrel took the schnitzel XL challenge (two schnitzels, one plate).

Filled with pork and beer, we wandered the Elbe, which was just as mighty in Hamburg as in Dresden.  Even today, Hamburg is a major shipping port.  The ships can no longer dock at St Pauli, as the larger, heavier ships need deeper waters and must head for the far side of the river. 

This has led to a significant boom in 'beach bars' along the river bank.  Here Hamburgers can relax in deck chairs on the sand and sip Astra.

That night got messy, but that's another story for another teller.  The next day was rough: I saw most of the city, but I'm going to give you the highlights.

Living in Leipzig

Our full day in Leipzig was very relaxed.  It had to be after the madness which had gone on the night before.  But the morning did start with one strange sighting.

After spending the day shopping, walking and eating pizza we returned to the hostel the long way, and found these in the street behind where we were staying.

We were pretty impressed, but that was the way our trip to Leipzig went.  An hour of mundane with a splash of extraordinary.  We never quite got the rhythm of the town, which was for the best, as we weren't there for very long.  That evening, we went to schnitzel culture and ate a now legendary meal.  Afterwards the Scoundrel and I wandered the city, taking in its strange beat as the sun went down.

We were impressed by the number of clocks on buildings, and their strange designs.  When we spotted the clock with its own, life-sized bell ringers we declared it the winner.

As I've mentioned previously, Leipzig tends to claim ownership of anyone who looked at the town on a map.  We found a bust of Wagner in one of the city's parks, and wondered what he was doing there.

Our last night in Leipzig was fairly uneventful.  After talking toot and drinking cheap scotch with a couple of Americans, we went looking for late night kebabs, and freaking ate them.  We got to bed at an hour which could be considered civilized, all energy for our trip to Hamburg.  We didn't know at the time, but we would need it.