Leopards in Leipzig

 

__________________________________________________________________________________Last weekend was another busy one, travelling east to Leipzig to spend the weekend with some fellow year abroad friends from back home. The journey was an early one but after four and a half hours of buses, trains and waiting for connections, I was in Leipzig Hauptbahnhof with a Christmas Starbucks in my hand. To say I've missed my year abroad friends is an understatement; they've definitely been a lifeline for those "oh-my-goodness-how-am-I-supposed-to-do-this" moments and helped me realise that I'm not the only one feeling the cultural differences here. Everyone misses home and Christmas really isn't that far away, you get the picture. After a catch up, we started to explore the city and just so happened to pass Zara on the way - I really don't know how that keeps happening...

The photo above is the 'Neues Rathaus' which is the new town hall. My photo certainly doesn't do it justice but with its turrets and arches, it really is quite magnificent. 




Unfortunately we just missed the opening of the Leipzig Weihnachtsmarkt but we could see it being set up and having the finishing touches put in place. Once the rest of our party arrived, we headed out for dinner and cocktails.
On the Sunday, the weather turned a little frostier but we stuck to our plan of going to the Leipzig zoo - if the exotic animals could cope in this weather so could we! The zoo was really incredible, hosting an aquarium, penguins and almost every wild animal you can think of. My favourite animal there was the tiger as I don't think I've ever been this close to one before. It was pure luck that I managed to snap a photo in time because he or she was definitely camera shy. There was a lion too but it was quite unhappy, banging its head against the glass window again and again. The tiger, on the other hand, was quite majestic but clearly lacking a companion. The leopards we saw were sat together cosily just watching the snow. Relationship goals indeed. 


All in all I had a really great weekend and I've become even more excited for the festive season. I hope you enjoyed this post and will be putting Leipzig on your destinations list! There's lots to do and I'm sure it will be even prettier now the Christmas markets are on.

xxx

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