Hannover or Bust!

What a week!

Since the boys have a two week Fall break right now, we took advantage of the time and took a little trip to the city of Hannover. Paulina, our exchange student from the 2009-2010 school year, and her lovely parents invited us to visit them. They live in Ronnenberg, a city just outside of Hannover.

A colleague of Russell's from the Uni asked him what we were doing over the break. When Russell said we had been invited to Hannover the man said, "Why would you go to Hannover?" Well, that made me a little nervous, but it didn't matter since we would be visiting friends that we have grown very fond of.

I have to say again how lucky we are to have friends here. The Kellersmann family were wonderful hosts that really went out of their way to help us experience GERMANY. Because, of course, there is the Germany tourists see, and then there is the Germany Germans live in.

On Friday night we walked around Hannover and saw a few of the most important sights. The first place we went to was the Historisches Museum Hannover. The current exhibition covered the history of Hannover from 1900 to 1939. It also had many other permanent exhibits that were interesting. You can see the rest of the pictures here.

New City Hall was the next destination of the day. For a few Euros you can take an elevator to the top, then walk up several winding flights of stairs for a panoramic view of the city.  The seven of us (the four Haines, Paulina, her mother Ute and the elevator operator) squeezed into a rhombus shaped elevator. The many slanting walls disoriented me, so I didn't notice that the floor and ceiling are clear plastic. Once we started moving I realized the elevator was tilting sideways to follow the contours of the dome we were climbing through. Trudging up the stairs reminded me a little of climbing up to the top of Notre Dame. Of course, the view from the top was well worth it. One interesting view showed the shell of a small church. The middle was destroyed during the WW2, but the facade remained. Rather than rebuilding the church, they left it as a reminder of what happened.

One room of the New City Hall held models of the city at different times throughout history: 1600's, 1939 and 1945. The 1945 model portrayed the damage Hannover experienced. It is amazing to see, even in scale model, the level of destruction laid on this city. The large building in the front is the model of the New City Hall.

We met up with Matthias for a quick dinner near the train station. The boys settled on Weißwursts and a pretzel while the rest of us had some Spanish fare.

On Saturday we walked around Ronnengerg with Ute while she did a bit of shopping. There was a lovely Church we were able to walk into that originated in the time of the Romans.
Afterwards, we visited the Hannover Flea market where all found a few treasures. After a pick me up snack, we took S Bahn (train) over the the Royal Gardens of Herrenhauser. The Baroque gardens here are considered some of the most famous gardens in Europe. In 1696, the gardens were begun and since then have remained nearly unchanged, although parts were damaged during WW2. Although we spent a couple of hours there, it would be easy to lose yourself for an entire day. Just across the street is the Berggarten which is well worth your time as well. More pictures can be seen here.

Monday's weather co-operated, so a trip to the Hannover Zoo was on the schedule. The Zoo nearly failed in the 1990's, but in 1994 was converted from privately owned, to a limited company. The zoo was completely renovated and redesigned with a new concept. It is an adventure zoo - "The different zoo worlds give people the chance to experience animals in scenic settings, without visible barriers, that meet the needs of both animals and visitors. A 5 km long explorer path leads through the different animal kingdoms:". 
The rest of the pictures can be seen here.

We finished our adventure with a stop at the BEST Zoo playground I have ever seen. See more of it here.

On Monday, we took the train into Hannover and met Paulina so we could see where she went to school. She didn't have much time so we just saw the highlights and then had a quick lunch.

Mmh, Currywurst

After lunch, Ute took us on a bike tour of Ronnenberg and the surrounding areas. Monday was also Halloween, which is not observed by most people in Germany, although a couple of trick or treaters came to the Kellersmann's. During our ride, we went past a "You Pick" flower/vegetable plot. We picked up a few pumpkins (Kürbis) to carve.

Tuesday it was time to go home. We had a wonderful time and were happy to get to know the Kellersmann family even better.

If you are a history buff at all, I recommend you read the Wikipedia entry on Hannover.