Leisure Day
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2011
1
2
17
Trip End
Jul 18, 2011
Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
noticed on the map that there was guidebook to the Red Thread tour. This started our plan of the day: Starbucks (about a block away from our hotel), Tourist Information to pick up a Red Thread guidebook, and then wherever the Red Thread took us. Whilst we were planning we were joined in reception by Bern, Gave, Glenn and their friends. We had a quick chat – discovered that they had gone to the wrong stadium in Wolfsburg, as had the Cheeky Girls & the Gooner – and then they went on their way and we went on ours.Before heading to the Tourist Information office, we had a pair of broken sunglasses to fix. Yesterday during the England game Lis’s sunglasses decided it was far too hot & one of the legs (or arms, whichever way you like to go with what the bits that go behind your ears are called) decided to fall off. It wasn’t the whole leg that fell off, just half of it. And it didn’t break at a join either. Very peculiar, really. She could still wear them, but if she bent down at all they dropped off. So, we headed into a shop called McPaper (which isn’t McDonalds’ venture into the world of all things paper, it’s a shop that sells stationery & cards & things) and bought some super glue. We sat out in the sun & Lis stuck her glasses back together.We were then off to Tourist Information. The walk was short & almost uneventful, until we walked past one particular manhole cover. When we’ve walked past manhole covers before we’ve only stopped if they have a particularly nice design on them. But this one looked perfectly ordinary. But it didn’t sound ordinary. There was music
coming from it. I kid you not. No idea where the music originated from, but we were definitely hearing it from through the manhole cover. I think it’s one of the more bizarre things we’ve seen in our short time in Germany so far.In the Tourist Information office we couldn’t see the Red Thread guidebook, so asked one of the ladies at the desk. She spoke the most perfect American English, complete with Californian accent & without any trace of her German accent. She was lovely & gave us all the information we needed for the Red Thread, including a recommendation to do the extended version so we can put our feet in the lake & have a drink. It was like she knew us to give us that recommendation!So guidebook in hand, armed with cameras & water, off we ventured, following the red thread road. We looked at all sorts of architecture & sculptures & pieces of art & memorials, but there are a couple that will stay with me for a while. Firstly: the New Town Hall. This is an impressive building, built between 1901 and 1913, with foundations of 6026 beech piles rammed into the marshy soil keeping it all up. But the most impressive thing is the viewing platform at the top of the dome. From here you can see all the way to the Harz mountains on a clear day. To get to the viewing platform we had to go up to the third floor of the town hall, then out onto the roof (we couldn’t see anything from this point as we were in the middle of the building
& there were still walls of the building that went higher around us. Then we had to go up curved fire escape style stairs to lift doors. The lift doors opened, revealing a tiny 5 person lift being operated by a scary-looking woman. We stepped into the lift & the
first things we noticed was the sloped floor. This was no ordinary lift, you see, this was one of a kind in Europe & a rarity worldwide. This lift didn’t go straight up & down; it went up a sloped lift shaft, of 15%. SO we stood on a sloped floor, which felt
sloped until the lift angled itself to 15%, then it felt perfectly flat. The lift had glass panels on all sides, including the roof & the floor, and a display telling you how high up you were. This didn’t do my dislike of heights any good! When we reached the top I came out shaking & Lis came out ready to go again! (You can tell which one of us likes rollercoasters!) Once out of the lift we were faced with a metal spiral staircase. This went up the three floors to the viewing platform at the top. Up we went, with me getting slower at each stage & my grip getting firmer on the hand rail, and Lis almost bouncing up the stairs in stark contrast! We started off at the very top – I knew if I didn’t start at the highest point I wouldn’t get up there! The viewing platform was 43 metres up, circular & small. There were 4 main viewing “windows”, which were really archways with a waist-high fence there to stopping you falling out. Between each window” was a stone pillar. Lis positioned me at one of these pillars, were I looked out of the windows & held onto the rail for the staircase to counter-act the breeze that had picked up at the top. Lis had a good look at the view from all angles & snapped away with her camera (so at least I knew I would get to see the down-angle views
that I wasn’t going to look at whilst we were there). We then moved down a level. I was happier on this level. There was an inner area with thick stone walls separating you from the balcony. There was one archway in & out of the balcony, with the other three sides having large windows to look out from. So I stayed inside & looked out whilst Lis went out onto the balcony. The third (and lowest level of the viewing platform) was as simpler affair, with four windows in the wall, we didn’t stay long on that level. Then it was back down the last of the stairs to the scary lift. This time
it was manned by the lovely young man who had sold us our tickets to go up there in the first place. We stepped in & headed down. Going down in this angled lift was a little worse than going up, as the corners from the 15% angle to the straight last part felt more accentuated as the floor went from being flat to being angled.
The second highlight was the extended part of the Red Thread. This was a walk past the Maschpark at the back of the New Town Hall down to the Maschsee Lake. This lake is the largest in Hannover; it covers 2.4km and was man-made. Some genius decided to construct it in 1934/35 and it feels like a little paradise. We sat & had a bratwurst im brochen (hotdog for want of a better description) and a Sprite &
sat on a little wall on the edge of the lake. There are massive fish in the lake, even bigger than the ducks! And several of them swam over to us & hung about in the lake right behind us, obviously waiting for us to throw food in for them. The ducks then joined the fish, hoping for something to eat. One duck in particular was determined to get some food from us. She flew out of the water & landed right next to Lis, looking expectantly at her bread roll. Well, what can you do when a duck is that persistent? Lis broke a little bread off her roll & went to throw it to the duck. The duck didn’t wait for it to be thrown & simply waddled over & took the bread right out of Lis’ hand. This took Lis a little by surprised, and to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, tried again. And the
little duck quite happily took the bread from Lis’ hand. This went on for a good few minutes, with Lis breaking off a bit of bread holding it out & the duck eating from her hand. When the duck had had enough she waddled off & jumped back down into the water. We then moved to a different spot where we could sit with our feet in the water. This was a moment of heaven for us. We’d been walking for a few hours & the sun was blazing hot again. So to rest our feet in cool waters was perfect. The guidebook says the lake is one of the best spots in town, and both us of us would have to agree. We completed the Red Thread after a good 6 or 7 hours – apparently you can do the tour (presumably without the extended section) in 2 hours, you must have to go some & not really investigate anywhere in order to do it that quickly! But we took our time & found all sorts of interesting things & buildings to look at & round.
We were both shattered by the time we reached the station (the Red Thread is a circular tour, so we finished pretty much where we started). We went to Mr Clou in the station (they sell lots of juice, fruit & healthy food there) and bought the “Wok Special” for our tea.
We got back to the hotel about 9pm, so spent what was left of the evening relaxing & planning our journey to Leipzig, which is next stop on our German adventure.We leave in the morning; it takes about 3 hours on the train I think. Then we spend 2 nights in Leipzig & head over to Dresden on match day.Will write more from Leipzig – until then:Come on England – We Believe!Big love
S&L xx
