Since we are all in different parts of the world in our daily lives, some of us arrived on Thursday, while others arrived on Friday. Those of us who arrived the night before decided to get together for drinks, put work aside for the evening, and “just” enjoy each other’s company.

By the next morning, this part of the team was more or less ready for the tasks ahead, the rest of the team arrived and we all got together to start our small adventure!

First on the list was preparation for an all-day challenge: To prepare, each team member blindly drew three “Scrabble” letters from a bag, in line with our theme. Task for the day: Find texts, everyday objects, or structures that resemble each letter, then save them by taking a picture of each letter. Then it was off into the streets to our first destination, the LVZ (Leipziger Volkszeitung). After a nice walk, we enjoyed a private tour of the LVZ headquarters, with everyone diligently searching for their letters along the way and around the building. The tour was well worth the visit, and it ended with a short quiz (and some iced coffee) that gave us all the chance to earn some valuable points (we’ll get back to this later in the year)!

The end of June in Leipzig usually means beautiful weather, and we weren’t disappointed! So instead of taking the tram or a taxi, we decided to walk to our next stop, the “Spinnerei”, Leipzig’s former cotton mill, for another educational journey through its history.
The large industrial complex survived the two world wars and once employed up to 4,000 people (mostly women, surprise, and a lot of children). A total of 240,000 spindles produced yarn from raw cotton, mostly imported from the USA, Tanzania, and India. The complex was a city in itself, with its own apartment complex, fire fighting department and kindergarten on 100,000 m².

A couple of years after the reunification of Germany in 1994, the mill ceased cotton production and was taken over by the cultural sector. Artists from all over Leipzig repopulated the area and the “Neue Leipziger Schule” (New Leipzig School) was born within these old industrial walls.

Today, the site is home to over 100 studios and 13 different galleries with artists such as Neo Rauch and Rosa Loy. In addition to contemporary art, there’s also the Luru cinema, fashion designers and, of course, a museum. Once again, the tour ended with a quiz, and our team earned its points (for example, by paying attention to our tour guide’s cap 😀).

After enjoying Leipzig from our “down to earth” point of view, we had a drink well over Leipzig’s roofs with a panoramic view from the platform of the Panorama Tower “Uniriese”. See, no quiz this time, the team just sat down and enjoyed a little break from challenges and games before diving into the final part of the day – a delicious dinner at the restaurant “Münsters”. The restaurant offered excellent service, a great atmosphere on the open terrace and some delicious wine.

Even with baby Alma on board and some special dietary restrictions, Münsters happily filled our stomachs. Needless to say, we stayed as long as our consciences would allow and finished the nights at the hotel with some fun games and conversation.

So let’s wrap it up: We had a great time in Leipzig and we love seeing each other in person! But what about our “letter” task and the challenges of the day? Well, there’s going to be a vote for the “best” letters and everything will have a role to play in the long run! Well, you’ll have to wait for the final answers just like us. Leipzig was a definite success, everyone waved goodbye with a smile on their face. It was a reassuring couple of days! Although not everyone from our team was able to join us, we look forward to seeing each other again – in person!

For now, thank you to everyone who was able to be there and for the uplifting time!