Germany

We took a wonderful trip to Germany this past weekend.  Our connection from London to Hannover was delayed and we didn’t get to our hotel until about 11pm.  Fortunately, the hotel was right across the street and it was such a pleasant surprise. Walking into the main lobby left me awestruck.  The massive interior rises 6 stories and houses 3 life size hang-gliders (with riders). Our room was so comfortable, and the windows opened!  Again, like Ireland no screens – but our room had double windows.  So quiet, we did not hear one plane taking off or landing.  Breakfast was good and very expensive.

In Germany they drive on the right and the car steering wheel is on the left.  Keep in mind I’ve been used to driving in Ireland, completely opposite.  Tom had to keep reminding me to stay in the right and which lane to get into after turning corners.  Driving gave my brain a great workout.  When getting our rental car, Andres behind the counter, tried to get us into a 250HP sporty car – because Germans like to drive fast (I declined) But oh man, they do like to drive fast!!

Our destination was Wolfshagen Im Harz for Walpurgis Night.  You’ll have to read the next blog for more on that.

Our day trip the next day took us to Goslar, again you’ll have to read the next blog.

Time to return to Hannover and we decided to take a scenic route and I’m so glad we did.  Here in Ireland taking the smaller roads we usually find delightful little villages and in Germany it was no different other than trying to pronounce city names; such as – Hohenhameln, Baddeckenstedt or Mittleres Innerstetal mit Kanstein.

One town we drove through has an electric trolley that runs either right down the middle of the main road or alongside it.  Oh baby, that was a challenge – when to avoid the trolley, speed up or slow down- who’s light is who’s, mine or the trolley? Obviously, I gave the trolley the right of way and I was happy to get out of that town.

Rapeseed plant

Spring is in full swing, the countryside was so lush, and there were numerous fields of little yellow flowers.  We did stop and check them out up close and personal, but in all honestly, they appeared to be nothing more than weeds with no smell.  The rising hills presented us with beautiful vista’s.  We drove through forests, dark and cool and apparently with enough frogs crossing the roads to warrant their own signs.

ATTENTION! Toad Hike

There was very little traffic on the roads this entire weekend as it was Worker’s Day on Tuesday giving most a 4-day weekend. The plaza of the old City Hall in Hannover was crowded with tents, workers, politicians, vendors and general public.  This is a day for demonstrations, parades, beer drinking, lots of talking, complaining and general gathering of kindred spirits. We hung out for a wee bit to get the general feel of the events.  We did not understand a word of what was being said, but we did get the sense of the passion in the words being spoken.

 We took a quick trip through the Landesmuseum, but everything is in German (go figure) so it was impossible to fully understand what we were looking at.  It was not the most impressive collection of works, but fascinating to wonder about and speculate.

Our hotel room was great, on the top floor with a great view of the Maschsee lake. This area of Hannover has several parks and abundant bike paths. The lake has a couple of touring boats you can ride, paddle boats to rent along with a small marina which housed numerous sail boats. It was great to watch the many kayakers, runners with and without dogs and bike riders of all ages.  I suppose in the summer this place is hopping with all sorts of activities.




Heathrow Airport Photos
Hannover Arrival Photos
Wolfshagen Im Harz
Hannover Departure Photos

Walpurgis

A few years back I came across a video on YouTube of a group of witches dancing to a German song called ‘shake your bacon’. (Check it out here) The costumes and makeup were remarkable.  After further investigation I discovered this gathering is an annual event for Walpurgis Night. These particular witches (hexen in German) are from Wolfshagan Im Harz, a small village within the Harz mountains just south of Hannover, Germany. Harz mountains is where this all started.  This year, they put on quite an extraordinary show and except for the crowd (2,000 people this year), it was brilliant to see in person.

They arrive via motorcycles, do synchronized dancing, dance with the devil and have a magnificent bonfire all in these spectacular costumes. It’s all very paganistic and took place under a full moon this year.  The town & event have become very popular over the past few years mainly due to that YouTube video.

  

The entire town embraces their hexen history with stuffed witches on almost every front yard, porch and hanging from trees. The street lights even have wooden witches on them. Like our Halloween of getting dress up, little girls dress as hexen and boys the devil. There are NO OTHER costumes, not for this tradition. At least for one night a year (maybe more, who knows….) housewives become hexen and dance with the devil. 

  

PHOTO ALBUM

Goslar Germany

We had anticipated spending our entire second day in Wolfshagen exploring but in all actuality, it’s such a small town we did that in one afternoon. So, we hit the road and drove a few miles south and found the town of Goslar to explore. I’m so glad we did because this town was the icing on the cake of our trip to Germany.

Street after little winding street in this town screams Germany, with it’s beautifully carved, hand painted half-timbered houses and slate roofs and siding. Let’s not forget the stone streets, hard on the feet, but so quaint. I read that Goslar has the largest number of old houses in Germany, 1800 of them! This was such a wealthy silver mining town some 900 years ago that many folks settled here.  They have a center market place with fountain. One of the oldest hotels still stands on the same corner, the Kaiserworth Hotel 500 years old – decorated with numerous carved characters – some more interesting than others.

After having our second breakfast, served by witches of course, we continued to wander the streets, found a great waterway lined in wood and more intricate hand-painted roof-lines, archways and doors.

As we returned to the Market we noticed everyone looking up at a building. Whoa – Glockenspiel, a clock tower with full size figures that come out 4 times a day.  The mechanical figures that appear re-enact the history of Goslar starting with the king as he feeds his horse an apple. The clock is surrounded by bells that also play on the hour.  It was noon, so we were treated to the music and procession in and out of the clock.

The final experience was walking along the same path that thousands of Germans have in the past 900 years, even Hitler himself when we visited the Kaiserpfalz; Imperial Palace of Goslar.

PHOTO ALBUM