While not exactly knowing where Hannover was until fairly recently (I am SURE it used to be in England…. didn’t it??), I had the opportunity to visit this neighbor of Hamburg not once but TWO times in recent months.

Hannover is sort of Hamburg’s kid brother. It’s about a 1 ½ hour drive south (unless you have a Beemer or a Porsche and can crank it up to mach 1 on the Autobahn… then it’s maybe 20 minutes south…). The first thing you do on your way out of Hamburg is drive under the Elbe River through the “new”, very high-tech Elbe Tunnel. Apparently the baby didn’t like the tunnel experience so much, because I broke into a cold sweat about mid-tunnel and prayed I’d get out the other side without fainting. That was exciting.

So I met Soenke at the Lufthansa crew hotel near the center of town. Earlier that day, I had done some focused “Fall Collection” shopping at the newly-renovated mall near our place in Hamburg (note: now one of the biggest shopping malls in Europe), so I was fully babed up. After Soenke had duly admired my chicness, we moseyed over to the popular walking/shopping street in Hannover and browsed our way towards the handsome main train station which crowns the north end of the pedestrian street. After some ice cream and a few purchases at a unique and colorful candle shop, we were done with Hannover’s shopping street. Soenke took me on a small driving tour…. past Hannover’s beautiful central lake (the Maschsee), its museums and magnificent Rathaus, and out into surrounding postcard-worthy villages. I spotted a sign pointing to Wal-Mart (YEAH!), and we futilely drove around for about 30 minutes before giving up the retail hunt. Dinner soon followed – standard Italian fare near the town’s main movie complex – and we called it a night.

Soenke flew out early the next morning, and I found myself with a free, sunny day to kill in Hannover. I had recently read a paper on Germany’s Renaissance painter Albrecht Duerer, so I headed to the city’s very-reputable art museum in search of his work. No such luck, but on this lazy Sunday afternoon I was instead treated to a rich smorgasbord of art dating from the 1400s to the present time. Much more manageable than the Louvre (and with a lot more chairs), I lingered and soaked in the art history lesson, followed by some coffee and cake in the museum café – which sold some fabulous, original pieces of modern art at pretty decent prices (I resisted the temptation). These museum planners were pretty smart, because they also had a kids’ floor which included live snakes, fish, birds, and disgusting creepy-crawlies. I lasted for about 35 seconds in that exhibit and backed immediately out the entrance door without further ado.

Next stop, the gorgeous city hall - the “Neues Rathaus” - that looks more like a royal palace than a civic building. (I get the feeling that Rathauses are built more to intimidate and/or impress the city’s neighbors than to actually facilitate any city governance!) This model is a historical youngin’ at only about 100 years old, and it now houses some fascinating miniature models of the city at different times in its history: during the middle-ages, pre-WW2, immediately postwar (where bombing damage was extensive), and present time.

Finally, a small detour off the beaten track brought me to a bombed out church called the Aegidien Kirche. Built in the 1300s, it was wacked during WW2 bombings and never rebuilt (only the tower and outer walls still stand) in order to stand as a poignant war memorial. I noticed how beautiful leaves and vines had covered much of the walls, and were already turning red in the autumn weather. The courtyard was peaceful and deserted, and it wasn’t hard to imagine the activity of congregations from many decades past.

Fast forward another week, and back we were in Hannover to meet with our homebuilder, Heinz Von Heiden. A marathon session ensued, where every minute detail of the house was brought up for our debate (“so where do you want to place light fixture #18??”). I was delighted that our building liaison was American, but after 25 years in Germany he seemed 100% Germanized (i.e., mentions of built-in closets and cupboards sadly did not elicit even a glimmer of reaction from him…). I have my work cut out for me, as I was informed that I will need to coordinate directly with the workers in order to personally customize to American standards our bathrooms and other features (nothing I described had a “check box” in Heinz von Heiden’s option package!). Of course I’m totally up for it, and Soenke will observe with amusement, I’m sure. We also learned that by the time all the permits are obtained, underground connections are completed, winter is past, and the house is built, our baby will be going off to college. So we will settle into our third-floor walk-up apartment for a bit longer…

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Here are some Hannover photos:

The “new” city hall:

Hannover’s bombed-out Aegidien church:

Soenke coordinates important ‘house stuff’ with the builder:

I wanted a wrought-iron staircase….but…

Testing the tub!

Why be blah when you can be terra cotta?

I proudly display our new property sign: