Last Days in Hannover

Thursday:
We walked the Red Thread through Old Town with Nick. Hannover's oldest house was built before Columbus "discovered" North America:


Kim and I were soon distracted by shopping. We felt sorry for Nick being forced to wait for us, so we sent him home and Kim and I took the subway home when we were done. That night, we picked up Jenni and went for a walk around the lake.

Friday:
We went to the Queen's Gardens, which Kim wanted to see in bloom, and later went to the mall to get Nick some shorts. After that, we picked up Jenni again and went to the Schutzenfest carnival! We got food and played an EPIC round of bumper cars, then left for another stroll along the lakeside. We wanted to see the fireworks at 10:45 so we sat and people-watched for a while, which was entertaining. The fireworks were...large and loud.

Saturday:
Saturday we were sick! Disaster! Kim and I went to a flea market, but I felt like death the whole time. After that we went to a nearby lake with Nick and Jenni, where we got to swim in the freakishly warm water, which was full of other people with the same idea. Some people were playing catch in the water, or swimming, or SMOKING A HOOKAH IN THE LAKE.


Unfortunately, I can't upload any more photos for this blog because the internet in this hostel is sketchy and dies whenever we upload photos!

So, enjoy the one I did manage to get up.

Today was the first day we set an alarm the entire week we've been at Nick's. I woke up with a cold. That is all.

Paul's Prediction

Wednesday we started the day as any day should be started - by visiting a cookie factory!

We bought Hit cookies, Pick-up cookies, chocolate and candy from this heavenly factory store:



After eating our newfound treats until we had regrets, we decided to head out to town and follow the Red Thread, which is a red, painted line that runs around town past all the interesting buildings or tourist attractions. Nick even had a book with little blurbs about each spot, so we could read up on them.

Here is a photo of me in a church that had lost its roof during WWII bombings, and was never repaired:




After the red thread, Kim, Nick and I headed over to a local beergarden to watch Spain v. Germany in the semi-finals! We got there THREE AND A HALF HOURS early so we could get seats, which was lucky because by about t-3 hours all the seats pretty much gone. We spent our time showing off our German pride and drinking Bananenweizen (Germans capitalize ALL NOUNS), a banana juice/wheat beer mixture.





When the game was an hour or half an hour away from starting, more and more people tried to steal our hard-earned seats, and I got to use my new vocabulary, "schiesse nein"!

Here is the crowd from the our seats near the back:


Unfortunately, Germany played terribly and were beaten painfully by Spain, so there was no post-winning party or driving around the street waving of flags, there was just a going home and talking to Drex on Skype - which is also fun, in an unpatriotic, quiet sort of way.

Castle on a Distant Hill

Last time Kim was in Hannover, she took full advantage of the zoom on her camera to photograph a castle on a distant hill. On Tuesday, WE WENT TO THAT CASTLE.

Kim was very excited:



Since the only way to see the castle was a guided tour, and the only guided tours were in German, Kim and I had to settle for the audioguide. We learned all about the castle and the ruling families of Hannover - I had no idea that from 1714-1901 the House of Hannover ruled Britain and the same king ruled Hannover and England, until Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837. Since Hannover couldn't have a female monarch, that ended the joint-ruling thing. Interesting, right?!?!

After the tour we wandered the castle grounds. Here's a shot of the castle for you:


Post-wandering we headed back to Hannover, although we didn't get to drive on the autobahn which was supremely disappointing :(

We went to City Hall and climbed (okay, so there was an elevator...) to the top, where there was a great view of the town. Photo for you!


After that we went to the mall to buy Kim new jeans, since hers are covered in holes and superglue, but we actually just ended up eating food, complaining we were tired, and leaving after a very unsatisfactory and brief jeans hunt.

Later that night, after I napped and Kim and Nick internetted, we kidnapped Jenni yet again and went out for Turkish food. We watched the Uruguay-Netherlands semifinal in the restaurant, and a good time was had by all! Followed by more sleeping.

Bremen

Today Kim and I dragged ourselves away from the free internet and the well-stocked fridge at Nick's apartment to explore Bremen. Kim had been there once before, on a Sunday when everything was closed, and I wanted to go there because it's where Drex worked for the summer.

On the train there, we were stuck in a car with the most ridiculous middle/high school students who were throwing things and screaming. Not even screaming WORDS, just screaming. It was painful.

Bremen is featured in the Grimm Brothers fairytale, The Town Musicians of Bremen, about a donkey, a dog, a cat and a chicken who want to go to Bremen and become musicians. Because the city is SO OBSESSED with this story, all of the postcards and souvenirs feature the animals. There is even a statue of the animals:



After seeing that we wandered around the curvy streets and tiny shops, although I didn't find anything worth my hard-earned euros! I didn't even buy this beautiful ensemble to wear to Wednesday's World Cup semi-finals:



Instead we bought mini flags to wave, flags for Nick's car, and a Germany-colored clapper.

This is how excited we are about Germany becoming World Cup champions:

Hannover Lazy Day

Today Kim and I got up at 10am, after sleeping for ELEVEN HOURS, and it was beautiful. We ate piles of food for breakfast, then headed out to Schützenfest, a marksmans festival to compete for the best shooter. Today was the parade, so we went to watch some free entertainment! There were TONS of marching bands, about half of the participants were marching bands, and about half of them were solid piccolos. No joke, those Germans LOVED their piccolos.

Post-Schützen, we headed back to Nick's apartment where he cooked us a delicious lunch that almost rivaled the delicious dinner he cooked last night (we are so spoiled here...) and then we GOT TO DO LAUNDRY. IN A MACHINE. Best day of my life...

Germany!

Kim and I made it to the train station for our 10:30 train, thankfully. The train was so full that there were lines of people in the aisles, packed so tight that nobody could move. We didn't have seat reservations, so Kim and I thought we would have to kiss our dream of sleeping on the train goodbye, until we found 2 seats next to each other: one was reserved and the other wasn't reserved at this stop, but at a stop 2 hours away. We sat down, and fell asleep ASAP. As an added bonus, the guy with a reservation on my seat never came to claim it :)

On the way to Berlin, the AC on the train wasn't working so it was like sitting in an oven for 5 hours. It was at least 100 degrees, probably more. It was too hot to sleep, but too hot to be conscious, and it was just AWFUL. The only thing to take our mind off the head was the Russian couple across from us who kept asking us questions about our trip, then being incredibly impressed that we were still alive after our numerous adventures.

Once we got off the train in Berlin, the 4pm quarter finals game against Argentina was about to start. As we were getting food in the food court, the first goal was scored and the crazy German World Cup fever was palpable...

Throughout the Berlin train station, there were info screens displaying the current score. When we got on the train, the conductor would make an announcement on the PA system every time Germany scored...I know this not because I speak German, but because his announcements were met with cheers. When we got off the train in Hannover, Jenni met us with the news that Germany beat Argentina 4-0!

On the way to Nick's apartment, we were met with ridiculous traffic because of the spontaneous street party. There were people running around in the streets with German flags, hanging out of car windows waving flags and drinking beer, standing up in sun roofs and cheering, riding in open trunks, and even riding on top of cars. It was RIDICULOUS.

Photos of Germany being awesome: