City in a Day: Hannover

My going to Hannover was essentially the result of me finding myself with an empty Friday and grabbing for the closest city that looked interesting. Actually, I'd heard good things from other students and the Wikitravel website listed a bunch of helpful information, so I rode the trains for free (have I mentioned how much I love that? I love that) and arrived an hour and a half later.

I discovered a semi-underground shopping center ("The Promenade") which had a nice tea shop, and visited the nearby Tourist Information place. The helpful lady there answered my questions about the logistics of a few things I planned on doing, and gave me some brochures. One had a map, which was very useful because going out from the Hauptbahnhof you enter a tangle of modern streets crammed full of shops and people, and I got lost several times. Eventually, I made my way to the Market Church because I could see the steeple from the bahnhof and everyone knows I'm a sucker for churches.

Actually, it was your run-of-the-mill brick church, of which I'm starting to get very bored. I thought this was interesting, though--the above snapshots show a picture of the church after it was bombed during WWII, and how it looks today.

I've been spending too much time staring at old buildings, so I decided to walk to the lake because I heard you could ride a cruise around it. The day was overcast and a bit chilly, so the boat was fairly empty. There's not really a lot to see: it's a man-made lake in a park, so you'll see trees, people, and the top of buildings. Still, it was a nice change of pace.

Afterwards I got lost trying to find a museum and kept ending up at the Rathaus...

...Before realizing that the museum was right next door.

It's the August Kestner Museum and turned out to be free on Fridays, the day I was there. This is a good thing because besides saving money, everything is in German and I would not have have gotten my money's worth. There several exhibits on medieval stuff--writing, jewelry, cups, art, etc.

The Middle Ages: More Gangsta Than You.

Also, there was a section on relics and stuff--I really wish I could've read the German! Can you spot anything remotely creepy in the relic-holding-case-thing?

There was, inexplicably, also an exhibit on some modern art/nouveau thing. It was strange, but am I the only one who wishes this really existed?

I knew that the museum had some ancient exhibits, and I was excited about the Greek and Egyptian stuff, but I was totally surprised by what came next:

A MUMMY. A REAL LIVE MUMMY. ACTUALLY A REAL DEAD MUMMY, BECAUSE THIS IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE.

I was a little excited about this.

There were actually two, and it was nigh impossible to get decent shots of either because the lights around kept reflecting off their protective cases. I wasn't able to find a lot of info about them online (because again with the no-reading-German), but if you'd like to try they were the Weibliche Mumie and the Männliche Mumie.

From there it was time for dinner, shopping (four week into my 5-week stay and I finally got a pocket dictionary), and the return trip. Last thing of note, though I unfortunately didn't get a picture of it: there was a McDonald's in the bahnhof, and it also advertised from from its McCafe, which everyone should already be familiar with.

This McCafe, though? Was a separate counter from the rest of Mickey D's with a glass case like a real cafe/bakery that sold cupcakes and muffins and stuff. WE NEED THIS IS AMERICA.