I poodled around Hannover awaiting the arrival of Gareth.W and Tim.I who were due to arrive shortly after 3 pm. They had
caught the overnight ferry from England to The Netherlands and then trained it from Rotterdam to Hannover . Surprisingly (for German Deutsche Bahn) their train was 4 minutes late. I would imagine there will be a a full inquiry at Deutsche Bahn’s HQ as to the reason . Some more stuff about Hannover before we get to the pictures. In 1947 it held its first export fair and since then has gone on to establish itself as the worlds largest industry fair expo/convention centre.
Hannover became Protestant during the course of the Reformation in 1533. In 1714 the local elector George Ludwig ascended to the English throne as King George I of Great Britain and Ireland. This cemented the relationship between Hannover and the Uk which continued until 1837. The first street gas lighting in all of Europe made its debut in Hannover in 1826.
Now we both know.
First stop this morning as I looked to fill the time was a visit to the well named Church of St.Nikolai . Like the Aegidienkirche the day before this small church was bombed to within an inch of it existence and like the aforementioned church has been left in its state of ruin as a reminder of the war. Coincidentally I took a look last night at how much ordnance was dropped on Hannover during those 88 Allied forces air raids in 1943. The answer - 980,000 bombs of various destructive capability . Yes, you read right, 980,000.
Second stop was a ride around the city’s “Georgengarten” Parkland. 6 times the size of Central Park in NY it’s an impressive piece of greenery and well patronised on a sunny spring morning. This particular stretch from one of the main gates runs for 2.1 km in a straight line avenue of tree lined path.
Hammering towards me at some pace along that 2.1 km stretch of gravel was this guy. Aerodynamic piece of cycling kit for sure.
I also came across a cricket match. I got speaking to the captain of the side batting whose name is Sandeep. He hails from Delhi and has lived in Hannover for 7 years. Moved here for a change in atmosphere. On his team are 5 Indians, 2 Pakistanis , 2 Bangladeshis , an Afghan and a Sri Lankan. They play in the Northern German Cricket League and today’s opponents were from Hamburg . At season end the champions of each region play in a round robin competition to determine the overall cricketing champions of Germany. Cricket in Germany. Who would’ve thought .
Water tulips , moats and pretty rotundas in the Georgengarten.
All 3 of Niki De Saint Phalle’s structures. Yesterday this was a mobbed flea market. Sunday not so much.
Museum of a thousand windows. Literally. 1,000 windows.
As we headed out of town on the first short leg towards the Elbe our destination was the small hamlet of Gros Lobke. The route there took us along a small river before spitting us out onto flat farming land and we crossed open fields drawfed by these majestic machines that were whirring slowly in the spring breezes.
