After a leisurely morning in the apartment, we head out into Old Town for a full day of exploration, beginning at the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig – Forum of Contemporary History – which has a collection of almost 1 million of what they call “suitable objects” that document contemporary history exploring “Our History.  Dictatorship and Democracy after 1945.” 

As always, we are early, so we wander around the Marktplatz where they are holding a huge farmers’ market (wish we were staying longer so we could buy stuff!) and then over to the Alte Borse, the old Stock Exchange building, with the statue of Goethe in gardens.

Inside the Forum, we walk through WWII history represented by photos, explanations about the divide in Berlin, Check Point Charlie – just an excellent overview of how the war ended.  Plus a very cool section on Allotment gardening and how Berliners survived by gardening during the lean times; turning war remnants into tools (like this German helmet turned into a shovel and ammunition cases into rakes); hiding refugees in the gardens; how the government tried to regulate the gardens through a law; a great map that showed the proliferation of gardens in East Germany; and a cute section on Garden Gnomes.

Another exhibit talks about the Apartment blocks, the large housing estates the GDR built in the 70s; yet more rooms hold memorabilia (if you can call it that) of the Nazi regime; a tail piece from a shot down plane, furniture from the GDR president’s office, trucks used to secretly capture and transport “enemies of the state” to prisons; a cool representation of a house from the time.

Then there is a whole section on the “Peaceful Revolution,” the movement that essentially started here in Leipzig on October 9, 1989, when 70,000 peaceful demonstrators stand up against security forces at the Nikolaikirche.

An excellent historical perspective on the entire situation.  Very much worth the visit.

Wandering back through the Old Town – which btw is quite compact and easily navigated – we begin our search for lunch, ending up on the Marktplatz at Augustiner Am Markt.  Why not?  We love Augustiner in Munich, and there is a table open outside for a pleasant al fresco meal of – yes, Nuremberg sausages (they are so good, you just can’t resist them) on mashed potatoes and sauerkraut (a surprisingly excellent combination) and of course more Obazda (in my never ending quest to sample and compare all the different varieties).

Then we are off, to of all things, the Arabian Coffee museum!  An entire building dedicated to coffee in Germany and Leipzig.  The building is actually the 2^nd oldest coffee house in Europe, continuously operating since 1711.  Pretty impressive.  In an amongst the interesting displays and information is a detailed explanation of August the Strong’s preference for “Turkish Fashions.”  Remember the huge tent in the Residentzplatz museum?  Well, ATS apparently loved all the Turkish traditions, particularly as it increased his political power with the Ottoman empire. Aha! And thus, apparently the rise of the coffee culture here in Saxony.  The Coffe Baum, as the establishment is known, was a popular meeting place in the 20^th Century, as well as lots of behind-the-scenes activities with the Stasi during the GDR era.   It all makes for fascinating reading, how coffee houses were reputed to be meeting places for dangerous and immoral people, the GDR coffee crisis when crops failed in Brazil and they introduced the “Kaffee Mix” that contained 49% substitutes that clogged coffee machines.  Really interesting.

And of course afterward, we had to sit down and have a Cappuccino at the Coffe Baum – how could we not?

Coffee break complete, we move on to the Museum in der Runde Ecke – the Stasi museum housed in the former Stasi secret police headquarters.  Full of just tons of information and photos, each room holds exhibits that explain how the Stasi performed surveillance on the people of Leipzig. Everything has been left as it – original offices and prison cells for political prisoners – just as they were when demonstrators occupied the office in 1989 to prevent agents of the service from destroying records of their deeds. 

Plus displays with disguises used, listening devices, briefcases with hidden cameras, ordinance.  As they say in their brochures: “Illuminating.”

Afterward we wander through Old Town, enjoying the architecture on our ay to Nikolaikirche – where we can not figure out where they fit 70,000 people for the Peaceful Revolution.  That square is just too small!

But the church itself is gorgeous with the most interesting color scheme of green, gold and peach – plus the frond-like embellishments on the columns.

Touring complete, we return to the apartment for some down time, then out to a completely non-traditional German dinner of Vietnamese!  The Quartier M is located right in the middle of a ton of restaurants, one of which Pho Ha Noi, we can see right outside our window and we’ve been wanting to go since we arrived. Tonight is our chance – and even though there is no Bun Cha on the menu, we still have a fantastic meal of fried spring rolls, Pho for Ed (of course) and Banh Mi for me. 

Excellent end to a lovely day touring. Back at the apartment we have an even better evening as we can do laundry here!  So we are completely set for the next portion of our journey until Yvoir!  It’s the little things…..