Day 2 - Hannover

This morning we had the opportunity to look around Hannover. I showed Cliff where CeBIT is held and the area where I stayed when I went. Then we spent some time walking around the city center. There was a fascinating display in the Rathouse. It had a model of the city before, during and after WWII. There was a beautiful park in the back, that we would have taken more advantage of if were dressed more appropriately for the cold weather. :) There was even a group of people taking bridal portraits there. It's the first time I've seen a bride incorporate a winter jacket into her outfit. :) After our walk around town we went to a market that was perfect for us. They sold everything from groceries to jewelry, with a very tasty food court upstairs. Then it was time to move on to Berlin and let Christian nap in the car.

This is the Rathouse (like the town hall)

This is the model of Hannover in 1939.
(much more impressive in person -
we had trouble getting a good picture)

Hannover in 1945
(This just made me sad.)

This is Hannover today.

Another view of Hannover today.

Cliff and Christian in the park behind the Rathouse.

This is the only picture we had of the market. It's taken from

the upstairs eating area. Everything is still decorated
for Christmas and New Year.

Cliff and Christian outside the building with the market.

Day 1 - Hannover

With as busy as we’ve been, we actually hadn’t made any plans over the Christmas break. So, as we reveled in our time off and enjoyed the various Christmas Markts, we spontaneously began to look at places we might go following Christmas. We quickly decided that Berlin would be a good place to visit even in the heart of winter. Agreeing, we quickly booked some hotels online (I would recommend booking.com), bought a few books on Berlin from the Bookmark, and we were on the road the morning of the 27^th.

We broke the 6 hour drive up by staying in Hanover on the way there and back, which worked out well for Christian who mainly took his regular nap during the drive times. He was awake for our stop at a roadside park where he excitedly played in the leaves and was fascinated by a huge red truck. This park affectionately became known as “Poopy Park.” Well, let’s just say that the multicolored, winter leaves were not the only nature that collected on Christian’s shoes. Fortunately we had an extra pair and, a quick change later, we were pressing on to Hanover.

We arrived at the Hotel Marjana sometime after nightfall, which is to say sometime after 4 PM this time of year. The hotel was initially closed when we first arrived and had a printed message on the door with a phone number. I called the number and after a brief conversation in broken English and a 20 minute wait later, we were ushered into the hotel; the only guests for the evening and most probably for the foreseeable future. Convention season isn’t for another few months in Hanover. The minor inconvenience was certainly offset however in the fact that the 350 euro convention season room cost us only 35 euro and Christian could be as exuberant as he wanted to be for the evening. The room was pretty spacious, so he had lots of room to run and play and there were very few extraneous wires and such for him to destroy. Aside from being a bit chilly, it was perfect.

After unloading the car, we were out again in search of dinner. We thought the town center would be the place to be, but were distracted by a plane that was aglow and looked like a restaurant. We turned around, and sure enough it was exactly that. A plane that had been turned into a pretty nice, but narrow restaurant and they had a high chair for Christian. Perfect! Here are some pictures of the restaurant.