Day 6: Ostseebad Binz – Leipzig

by bretzelitos

We can’t leave the Baltic Sea behind as such – hence a bath in it at 0730 in the morning was obligatory and very lovely. We enjoyed our stay in “Strandhotel Arkona” very much – great site, lovely people, charming environment.

After breakfast, we checked out and boarded our ICE3 train to Leipzig. Today, a direct train connection taking 5h20 of travel time. In comparison, this is quite long – mainly due to the absence of any fast track infrastructure in the North East of Germany. Up to Berlin, we hardly achieved 130-140 kmh velocity, only after Südkreuz stop (one of three stops in Berlin), we reached 200 kmh (=125 mph) for a while.

After arriving in Leipzig, we walked to our hotel, the STEIGENBERGER Grand Hotel Handelshof, in which we reserved a suite for one night. We got the one called “Gustav Mahler” in the fifth floor. The hotel management arranged prior to our arrival some pastry (Leipziger Lärche) and a bottle of Cremant de Loire in our room – very enjoyable reception indeed!

For dinner, we arranged a splendid meal in the Ratskeller of Leipzig.

Afterwards, we took a little walk through the old town of Leipzig, passing Thomaskirche, Altes Rathaus and Nikolaikirche before settling down at our hotel bar to close it with a traditional Gin Tonic.