Day 22

Even though I don’t have any plans in the mornings, I still keep waking early which is somewhat frustrating! I spent some time in my apartment typing up this blog before meeting Roman and his family in the main house for breakfast. Today I had plans to meet my friend Luise in Leipzig, so I had an easy 15 minute walk to the train station. Since the supermarkets weren’t open yesterday, I stopped there on the way to get some food and water before catching my train.

Since arriving in Germany, my 5G hasn’t been working which has caused a deal of frustration, but fortunately there was wifi on the train to Leipzig. After a quick connection at Südkreuz station, the train journey was about one and a half hours. One thing I noticed at the station was how I was the only person wearing shorts so maybe I stood out as a tourist.

Upon arrival in Leipzig, Luise met me at the station and it was so good to see her again after 7 years. Similarly, I haven’t been to Leipzig since 1997 so I’m pretty sure it has changed since then. Luise admitted she wasn’t a very good tour guide as she was unsure about most landmarks in Leipzig, but I didn’t mind since it was nice just to walk around the city.

We first went to a Konditerei for coffee and cake, which is one of my favourite activities in Germany. When Luise said she would like to take me to the zoo, I was somewhat confused as a zoo isn’t always the most common attraction. After spending the day there, I could totally understand - the zoo is amazing! The aquarium included a lot of tropical fish from the north of Australia, and the zoo itself even had koalas and kangaroos (although I only saw the latter) - so I felt like a part of home was there with me.

We had lunch in an outdoor restaurant at the zoo, where you could see some of the Patagonian Mara nearby. One of the highlights of the zoo was Gondwanaland, which was an enormous dome containing a huge rainforest, complete with a boat cruise and treetop suspension bridges. One interesting thing was how the three toed sloths have escaped from their enclosure, and could sometimes be seen hanging from the beams up on the roof of the dome.

Luise recommended a cafe in the zoo where we could have coffee and cake and, just like our lunch venue, there was plenty of animal spotting as giraffes and ostriches walked past while we enjoyed cheesecake and coffee. Luise then accompanied me back to the train station late afternoon, so we bid each other farewell until we meet next time.

The train back was just as quick as the morning one but, since I had taken so many photos at the zoo, my phone battery was almost dead. Upon arrival back at Teltow Stadt, I chose the wrong exit and after walking for a while, realised nothing looked familiar. I opened a map back to Roman’s house on my iPhone and quickly read the names of the streets where I’d need to turn before the phone died completely. Thank God I got back okay! Otherwise I would’ve been wandering the streets of Teltow clueless.

That night I had dinner with Roman and his family again, but I have offered to buy dinner tomorrow night since I haven’t contributed anything since my visit! Roman and Steffi thought sushi sounded like a good idea. Tomorrow I’ll be visiting my cousin Simone who has lived in Berlin for about 10 years as an an opera singer.Читать далее