A Chocolate Miracle - October 8, 2009

Today we had another early start.  I took the tram to the main train station and found my way to our meeting point all by myself.  It almost felt like I was a local.  Our first stop was a tour by the museum director of the City-historical museum of Leipzig.  The exhibition we saw was Saxony and the Enlightenment of the World which featured the history of Leipzig and the University of Leipzig.  From there we went to the Monument of the Battle of Nations.  We had a VERY detailed tour of the museum and then headed into the monument.  It had become very windy and cold, so our time from the top of the monument was rather brief.  It provided a nice view of the city though.  My favorite view was of the trees with the crematorium and the communist GDR apartment block to the right and the power plant in the background. 

The next stop was the highlight of the day, and that was the Halloren chocolate factory tour.  The low point was when I had to wear my blazer since we were being filmed.  (I was definitely pouting for a good 10 minutes.)  The tour started with a history of chocolate and the factory.  Then we got a bird's eye view of the production line.  The tour ended with a sampling of different chocolates.  Since the factory is in an area known for salt mining, I wondered if they made a chocolate with salt.  Lucky for me, Dena asked and they said they did.  As a result, she and I got to try it and it was really great.  I also sampled an orange chocolate and a hot pepper chocolate. 

We ended the day with a driving tour of Leipzig despite our request for a walking tour.  When we were finally released from the van, we walked a little to the Rotary meeting for the night and had dinner there as well.  I ended the day with a pleasant chat with my hosts, who have been extremely hospitable and fun.

P.S.  It is almost impossible to get still mineral water here.  Even with our best efforts, the majority of the time we find ourselves with a bottle of unrefreshing sparkling water.