Pania Spends a Day in Hanover

Friday August 13th

Today it was an earlier start than usual and I was bundled into the backpack and we all set out just after 9am. Mary and Alan walked in the direction that they had been told to go and followed another couple of walkers to the bus stop. When they got there they asked them for help and fortunately one of them spoke really good English. She was married to a Pakistani and English was their common means of communication. She explained how to buy a 24 hour ticket for 2 people that would cover all transport for the day. When the bus arrived she said she would do the talking for them and so it was all very easy. She also told them where to get off and catch the tram right into the centre of town. It was a lucky break as they had no idea how or what tickets to buy.
On the way to town Mary saw lots of ads for a circus with “All you need is laugh” written on them. She wondered if the Germans really think that was what the Beatles were saying, or perhaps they were being really clever. (Laugh is all you need.) There is English creeping into advertising everywhere, and it is noticeable in the shops. Today Mary saw a big sign in English in a shop, Back to School.

The Germans, (well the ones in Hanover) don’t seem to be in love with technology like the English and French. They are not walking down the streets with their mobile phones to same extent. But probably 50% of them are smoking. Cigarettes are really cheap and you can buy them from vending machines in the street. There are cigarette butts everywhere and places to stub them out on every rubbish tin.

The tram ride eventually went into an underground system but it was easy to get off at the right station and follow the labyrinth under the ground to emerge in the correct part of town. There was a town walk marked on the map and there was a red line to follow on the pavement so it was all very easy.

On the way around they went to the Information Centre to inquire about Wifi hot spots. They said McDonalds and World Coffee had them but they hadn’t been working lately. So they tried McDonalds, but you had to register with T mobile and have a German address and Phone number so that was no good, Next stop World coffee. The network came up but you had to ask for a user name and password at the counter and they had none. So no Wifi in Hanover.

They continued the walk and saw interesting places, but Mary was still hankering for an internet connection so they went back to the info centre and asked again and told about an internet cafe. They finally tracked it down, but it was an old fashioned one with no wifi and horrible keyboards with all the characters in the wrong places. Hopeless for blog publishing, but got emails to key family members to let them know where they were and that they were okay.

Having seen all they wanted to see in the city area they caught the tram back half way to look at The Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen. This was the summer residence of the Royal House of Hanover, but it was destroyed in WW2; a reconstruction is planned in the near future. The “Great Garden” is almost unchanged since it was laid out between 1696 and 1714. It is laid out in the English landscape style and is huge. A fascinating modern addition is the interior of the Grotto which is a walk in a work of art . The Grotto was actually built in the garden in 1675. Between 2001 and 2003 it was given a new interior by artist Niki de Saint Phalle. The rooms contain mosaics of coloured glass and mirrors and pebbles and many painted figures on the theme of “The Life of Man and Woman”. It was quite spectacular and I got my photo taken in there. The ticket included entrance to another garden across the road as well that included quite a few glass houses.

Weary legs caused the travellers to make their way back to the tram stop and head for the camp, as after the bus ride there was still over a 1km walk ahead. A quick bite to eat and then off to bed to read The Guardian they had managed to find at a newspaper stall in town.