The very next day was maximum of travelling. We left to Braunschweig via ICE (Inter-City Express). We had the breakfast from the hotel and taken a parcel for afternoon, as we'll be mostly travelling for the day. The plan was to have a changeover at Frankfurt and take the second train to reach our destination. But for our surprise, the train was running late for about 40 minutes, co-passengers said that this is not usual. Due to the delay, our plan got changed. Instead of changing in Frankfurt, we were asked to change in Hannover.
We were travelling in the reserved coach and we were not sure whether someone will come there to occupy the seat after Frankfurt, as our original reservation was till then. Finally we managed to reach Hannover without any hassle. Till now we had seen the country, which is quite calm , neat and less populated. But the scene in Hanover was completely different. The station was so crowded and it was not that clean. We all were puzzled and even to board the train there were large no. of people waiting in the platform. It looks like boarding the unreserved coach in Indian Railway. Later we realized that Hannover is not such posh cities like Munich or Frankfurt or Berlin. There was a huge exhibition complex in the city, which is one of the largest in the world. Recently India unveiled 'Bharatha Mandapa' in Pragadi Maidan, which will host the G20 leaders for the summit in Sep-2023. This complex is said to be inspired from Hanover Exhibition complex.
From Hanover, we reached Braunschweig through local train, which is like a normal metro, is a double decker one. It passes through the country side and we loved the scenic beauty of the Germany villages. Even the smaller houses were well planned and builded, with a small garden in front of them. It was blissful travel, personally for me. One observation that stood out during the journey through the villages was their agricultural practices. A notable aspect was the dominance of large-scale landlords who owned extensive tracts of land. Agriculture in these areas was largely mechanized, with only a few individuals managing vast expanses. The prevalence of genetically modified crops facilitated this mechanization, leading to considerable ease and a significant reduction in labour costs.
From Braunschweig station we reached the hotel through cab, as public transport was not that convenient. After reaching the accommodation at 4.30PM, we were asked to be ready by 5.15PM as we got the meeting at 6PM. The meeting venue is about 10 minutes of walk from the hotel. I must say about the hotel stay, it was an erstwhile industry/ factory which got converted into the hotel. So, the rooms were literally so big that a single person will end up getting more than 500 Sqft room.
We left for to the meeting venue and post the meeting at around 7PM, we were taken to the nearby Pakistani- Punjabi Hotel called 'Basha'. The food was so nice and felt happy for having authentic Punjabi cuisine in distant land. Then walked around the city in the evening while returning to the place. This city got destroyed during WW-II to the greater extent. Everyone who speaks starts with the anecdote of this.
After a heavy dinner, our day comes to an end. The next day was a tiering one. We walked a lot. The work for the day got over at 5PM and the dinner was hosted by the organisers from 6PM. As the room was nearby we gone there and left all our belongings and came back. Once the dinner got over, we gone to see the local Castle, which was said to be quite famous in the locality. It was claimed that the lion sculpture was made about 1000 years back and the castle too was claimed to be unique as the king had direct pathway to reach the Church from his room. But, we were not impressed with the architecture. It's neither majestic nor impressive, we could see such buildings in most of our country side.
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But the city haven't disappointed us. We gone for a ride in the giant wheel, to see around the city. We took the ride at around 9.30PM and the sun was just setting and the city was so beautiful in the dusk. We assumed that the giant wheel would move swiftly and were, in fact, prepared for such a scenario. However, it moved at a very leisurely pace. Upon consulting the locals, we were informed that its deliberate slowness was intended to allow passengers to fully appreciate the cityscape. Interestingly, the wheel even came to a halt while our cabin was at its highest point, providing us with several minutes to enjoy an uninterrupted panoramic view of the entire city.
Then had an ice cream and walked back to the room, to get ourselves ready to meet an important person the day after in the capital, the Berlin.
Dinesh
Part-1: https://dineshkumarsaravanan.blogspot.com/2023/06/germany-days-1.html
Part-2: https://dineshkumarsaravanan.blogspot.com/2023/06/germany-days-2.html
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