Aka. "Destination Anywhere", "The Boy and Girl from County Bavaria"... After a very intense year in Würzburg (Germany), I'm back in Salamanca. I probably won't have that many experiences to write, but there's always an excuse to post a new entry!

Lately I've been spending many weekends in Leipzig, the second biggest city in the former Eastern Germany. I wasn't there exactly as a tourist, but more involved in social activities (in other words, I was there visiting Marco). However, I still have some pictures from the only time in which I visited the city as a tourist... in December 2007, which is the first time I've ever been there at all.

This picture (which was made by Marco, just like all the other pics I'm going to post this time) shows quite a good overview of some of the most interesting things. I fell in love with this tower you can see (not the skyscraper). It belongs to the Neues Rathaus (new city hall) and you have the possibility of a guided tour in the tower which includes having a nice overview of the city from the top. I must say that something that really surprised me is that in Leipzig the new city hall looks nicer than the old one... at least to my taste. The skyscraper is... well, just a skyscraper ;) The most interesting thing about it is that you can see the whole city from the top, which is always great (don't worry - there is a lift). And last but not least, the green spaces you can see and the bridge belong to the Clara-Zetkin-Park, one of the many lovely parks in the city. Didn't I mention that one of the best things about Leipzig is that it's full of nature and parks?

On the other hand, if you take the time to go up one of the tall buildings I've just shown you, you'll be able to get pretty interesting views, such as this one:

This big building you can see in the middle, which resembles an aztec monument, is the Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Wikipedia translates it as the Monument of the Battle of the Nations). It commemorates Napoleon's defeat on October 18th, 1813. Apparently, you can go on top of it too, but that's something I haven't done. I have seen it from below, though, and I can tell you that it looks really impressive and beautiful. Unfortunately, it's being restored at the moment... But of course, there are many other things you can do there. For those who enjoy shopping, once a year they celebrate some kind of 'Midnight shopping', which means shops in the city centre and the main station are open until midnight. Besides it's a city with a greatly extended coffee culture and there are thousands of cafés where you can have some tasty sweet snacks (and good ice-cream!). And for those like me who are into water, I really recommend visiting the Sachsen Thermen, which we did two weeks ago. They are unfortunately a bit far away from the city, but they are definitely worthy. They have many different types of saunas and jacuzzis, but it's not simply a spa. There are also a number of swimming pools, a cafeteria... and water slides!!! =D As a student, you can spend the whole day there (from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.) for 12 €. But of course, if you still like water but prefer to do something for free, you can always drive or cycle to the Cospudener Lake... where you can see lovely sunsets like this one.