Tom Döhler
Okay, by now – you, dear readers – should know that cruising life is not only sunsets, beaches and cocktails … it has it’s downsides as well! One of those less enjoyable sides of the cruising life is that we don’t get to see our families very often. So we were both excited to pack our bags and hop on a plane to Berlin to spend a few days with my family. Bini was moored up next to a wobbly pontoon in Rhodes Marina, and went for an early morning run through the old city of Rhodes. A quick shower and breakfast later we got in a cab to the airport, which was crawling with tourists having to go back home. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help feeling a bit smug sitting at the airport thinking that we are living this life for 6 months a year – what an amazing treat! The flight was delayed by 30 minutes, which was not too bad, and it was a direct flight too so no disaster. We hired a car and drove down to Beucha, to be greeted by my family with the obligatory megatons of meat on the BBQ. YUM!
On Sunday we had a family get together, and it was great to see everyone. We had a nice lunch next to the Rennbahn in Leipzig and then rented a boat through some of the waterways in the west of the city. Finally on a boat again 😉 It was great to hang out with the folks and see Leipzig from a different perspective, although I do have to say I missed most of what the tour guide had to tell us.
Monday morning started with the by now traditional run around the Autobahnsee in Beucha, followed by a visit to the zoo. The zoo in Leipzig has seen a massive transformation over the years, and even though I’m usually not a fan of seeing caged animals, I have to say the zoo in Leipzig is really something else. Strolling through it you don’t see barriers or fences, it really feels like you are just walking through a park with the most exotic animals. They have some awesome creatures there, one of my favourites was definitely the Capybara. After the visit to the zoo we went to pick up our anchor thief – a piece of metal shaped like a horse shoe that allows nervous sailors to drop someone else’s anchor chain in case you accidentally picked it up. After seeing this genius device on a friends boat we had tried to buy one at the various chandlers along the way, but ended up having to order it from the UK. Here is another disadvantage of the cruising life – no fixed address makes internet deliveries much more difficult. We used the opportunity to be in Leipzig to get our anchor thief delivered while we were there.
To round off Camilla’s full infusion of Leipzig culture and history we went to the Völkerschlachtdenkmal on Tuesday. Bonus points for our non-native-German audience if you manage to say the word three times without breaking your tongue! This very germanic looking structure has been built to commemorate the beating of Napoleons army, and one can climb 200-something stairs to get all the way on top of it. Which of course we had to do! The views from there were awesome, again, a very different view over the city! We finished the visit off with a nice lunch together with my parents, before catching a flight back to Rhodes on Wednesday morning.
Eine schöne Beschreibung eures Besuches. Leider war er viel zu kurz?