From St Thomas Church we make our way to Marktplatz, the Central Square of Leipzig. There is some good shopping around and while doing that we also take a look at the Old City Hall and are a bit disappointed that there seems to be a setup for an event that blocks the view of most of the Old City Hall, just our luck.
As such we decide to explore around a bit, it is quite a large square with an interesting mix of older and newer buildings. It seems that not all buildings were reconstructed after the bombings or maybe there is another reason for the more modern ones.
Behind the Altes Rathaus/Old City Hall lies the Old Stock Exchange, it is quite an impressive building as a facade but smaller than we expected.
What is special in Leipzig downtown versus many others we have visited are the many passageways. Many of them are covered and quite a few are basically shopping arcades, quite convenient when it is too hot or too cold outside.
Returning in the central square we are quite happy when we notice that they are not setting up the event they are actually cleaning up the site. So already there are fewer trucks and we hope later in the evening when we plan to return there will be none.
And so it, in the evening right before sunset as we return the plaza looks completely different. Now you get a feel of how large it is and also how beautiful the Old City Hall is.
We decide to return via a slightly different route home passing through interesting courtyards and walking down busy streets.
Surprisingly the street ends a futuristic looking building which seems to be a mall. Maybe not so surprising, Leipzig seems to have a mix of old and modern even in the downtown area quite different from many other cities.
We enjoy the sunset in the large park near the mall which seems to be a meeting point for the youth before returning to the AirBnB to rest and prepare for the long drive the next day to Erfurt and then Trier.
