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To Leipzig

Our exploration of Porsche in the Stuttgart area was over. We were now less than twenty-four hours away from our Cayman-Boxster Dual Delivery Ceremony, which was being held at the Porsche facilities in Leipzig, Germany. Meaning, of course, we needed to get there.

We had no further need of our rental car. It made more sense to take Germany's excellent public transit to effect a rapid, efficient transport of our selves and our stuffs.

We piloted our rental car back to the Sixt rent-a-car facility at the Stuttgart Train Station (where we had rented the car before the start our our Dolomites pre-adventure). Making extra sure not to leave anything behind, we lugged everything up the garage stairs to the nearby platforms of the train station. Man, did we have a lot of stuff! Our huge 120-litre duffel bags were bulging and our packs were similarly stuffed. Seeing it all piled together in a big heap on the train platform, I was glad we had done a fit test back in Canada with friend Winston's Cayman. I would not have believed it would fit otherwise (and therefore would have been stressed and sweating bullets).
The pile
Departing for Leipzig
Waiting to depart Stuttgart
It was now 1pm. We had tickets on DeutscheBahn train ICE 576, departing Stuttgart Hbf at 1:23pm. We had packaged our time very efficiently, having left the Sonderwunsch facility only an hour prior.
Anticipation
Soon our train pulled into the station, and we huffed our heavy bags down to our assigned car.

We were able to snag a nice four-person face-to-face block of seats, so we could all travel together with a nice little table in the middle between us. With some ice-cold Coke Zeroes and some pizza slices and pretzels from Kamps bakery (basically a German food-court outlet), we were all set to relax and enjoy a smooth ride across Germany.
Comfy seats
Our choo-choo train route from Stuttgart to Leipzig, with a transfer in Erfurt along the way.


With silent electrical propulsion, ICE 576 glided north, heading north out of the Stuttgart area. For Luke and our two crew-members, the ride was a nice interlude, a chance to relax and unwind a little before what would surely be more exciting on-the-go. It was less so for me, as I spent some time reviewing the pictures I had taken so far over the last two days. In addition to doing the usual trip media capture that I do, I also wanted to post periodic fresh content to the @gtschronicles Instagram feed. I wanted the world to follow along on our experience, I guess.
courtesy JInnes
New stickers
Reviewing photos
Much processing
Between image and video processing, I watched as the German countryside slipped by. Rail travel in Europe is so refined, so reasonably priced and convenient, that you wonder at the fact that the sentiment in North America seems so inclined against it.

We switched trains in the city of Erfurt, waiting only about 20 minutes for a different train, ICE 504, to arrive and send us on our way towards Leipzig.
courtesy JInnes
German Industry
Heavy Transfer
We arrived at the Leipzig central train station, on time (of course), at 6:10pm. The station is a monumental work of old architecture, grand and dark and remarkably very empty. Apparently this is one of Europe's largest railway stations (maybe even *the* largest)?. Anyway, it was massive. With our heavy duffel bag straps cutting deep into our shoulders, we made our way across the huge expanse of tiled floor and out into the streets of central Leipzig.
Leipzig Hauptbahnhof
Michael Maternicki at Porsche European Delivery North America had managed to book us into the Steigenberger Grandhotel Handelshof in downtown Leipzig (the Steinberger hotels are Porsche's preferred hotels in both Stuttgart and Leipzig, but in Stuttgart the hotel had been full; hence our stay at the "Jaz" in Stuttgart).

It was only about a 600-metre walk from the entrance of the train station to the front door of the hotel. Now, I realize that most people (and probably even more so for those doing a Porsche Euro Delivery) would not have bothered to lug heavy luggage (on foot, with no wheels) 600 metres through the streets of a city to their fancy hotel. However, I couldn't stop the sense that getting a taxi for a less-than-1-kilometre journey was wasteful. Luke and Brian and Jenn have known me long enough to know this is what I was going to do, and they didn't bat an eye when I suggested that we could just hoof it the six hundred metres to the hotel (With a few breaks along the way to prevent the red welts on our shoulders and hands from getting too deep, of course).
courtesy JInnes
Mann und Frau
The transport is almost complete
It took us about twenty minutes to cover the distance from the Leipzig train station to the hotel. The hotel itself was a grand, old-world style sort of place, gold-trimmed and imposing and very upper-crust. Hopefully we didn't look too cringe-y in backpacks and carrying our own luggage in duffel bags (rather than Louis Vuitton custom suitcases or something).
Elegant Room
Once again (and even though Luke and I were each allowed a companion for Euro Delivery in general), we only had been able to get the Porsche booking for two guests in one room; that meant that technically, Jenn and Brian were not allowed to stay with us - even though there was space for four, with two Queen-sized beds in the room.

Once again we decided to play the rebels. Luke and I checked in, carrying everyone's luggage up to our room, while Jenn and Brian waited outside at a cafe across the street. Then I came back downstairs by myself and returned in a few minutes with Brian as my companion. Then a few minutes later Luke came down and did the same thing with Jenn. The whole thing felt a little underhanded but, hey, we were responsible guests and it wasn't like we were going to wreck the room with some big party or something. Besides, the REAL party was reserved for the next day, with the rendez-vous with our amazing sportscars!
Customized welcomes
Sitting neatly on the drinks table in our hotel room were two very special letters - one addressed to me, and one addressed to Luke. The welcome letters from Porsche for our European Delivery the following day. The sight of those letters sent a little tingle down my spine; for these few days, WE were special guests of Porsche, here to receive something we'd dreamt of for a very long time.
Luke and Hotel
Once fully settled into our rooms, we were pumped to go have a pre-delivery celebratory dinner. We headed downstairs and out into the central Marktplatz Leipzig plaza. The hotel is right in the old district and everything oozed of old-world European history and elegance. Leipzig's downtown is very pretty and very stately. We wandered around, waffling a bit regarding which place to eat at, choosing a very un-German (but very close to the hotel) eatery nearby: Pizzeria Rizzi (https://www.rizzi-leipzig.de).

The pizza might have been non-traditional, but the beers they served certainly were. We raised a toast to the successful first few days of the GTS Chronicles Euro Delivery adventure and a wish for more excellent days to come!
courtesy JInnes
Celebratory evening beers
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