Berlin; Saturday, 18 February, 2006

Yet another early start to get to the station, today Leipzig - birthplace of the 1989 revolution that ended Germany's partition and home to the hated Stasi and their many, many files!

After another, frankly boring train journey across flat land with not much on it I arrived at Leipzig Hauptbahnhof - supposedly the largest terminal station in Europe - but being partisan I think Waterloo is bigger (it's certainly got more working platforms and a nicer clock.)

First stop was to head out to the outskirts of town to visit the Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument to the battle of nations.) It's possibly about the ugliest monument ever built combining the very worst that concrete and communism can do, yet it was built in 1913 for which there can be no excuse! The one advantage is that, as it dominates the skyline, you can get great views from the top. If you have not already guessed by this point, this is exactly where I headed.

Leaving the monument behind me, I headed back into town to visit the museum in the „Runden Ecke" (Round Corner) which was originally the home of the Stasi. It was here on a night in 1989 that the crowds stormed the building. They discovered that the secret police were desperately trying to shred all the information that they had painstakingly collected over the previous 40 years. Almost every person had a file, and in them were reports from neighbours, friends and colleagues who had been on the payroll of the Stasi to give them information. The museum tells the history of the secret police as well as showing some of the ways that they obtained their information.

After spending some time in the museum, I had a wander around the town. It is not as beautiful as Dresden, in fact with the works going on to rebuild the city and build new infrastructure now the place looks a mess! However, there are several impressive buildings and quite a lot to look at.

Having spent about 2 hours wandering around the city centre I stopped for a bite to eat and then, with the light starting to fade, headed back to the Hauptbahnhof for the equally long and tedious journey back to Berlin, made considerably more pleasant by having treated myself to first class on the ICE!