Today Yusuke and I traveled to the small university town of Göttingen. This is a historic town known for its old university where many recognized individuals have studied or taught, and because it was not damaged during World War II, so many historic buildings are still intact. There was much to do in the city, and it was exciting to see with a fresh layer of snow!
Before we left, I ran to the post office and also got some pictures of the snow in Hannover. The axis in the Georgengarten was beautiful covered in white. The snow also clearly defined the architecture of the trees. Here are some pics of the snow (which unfortunately was gone by the time we returned in the evening):
The train ride to Göttingen was also fun as we got to see the German county side with snow. It only took one hour and twenty minutes...and it was south east of Hannover, towards the center of Germany. Once we arrived, we went directly to the Old Botanical Garden. Here we were able to enter a variety of Conservatories and see several plant collections. It was crazy going from a winter wonderland directly into a warm rainforest! I especially enjoyed the Water Plant House and seeing some giant Crinum plants! It was also weird to think that last weekend I was running around outside with Jason, taking pictures of fall flowers…and just one week later they are now gone. We finished our time at the Botanical Gardens by walking around the outdoor gardens.
Below you will find two links to Botanical Garden Pics:
#1: http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/editor.jsp?2RsCw1ZTAFljckQI3TNmEcA
#2: http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/editor.jsp?2RsCw1ZTAFlhhqAjBvwz0pw
#1: http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/editor.jsp?2RsCw1ZTAFljckQI3TNmEcA
#2: http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/editor.jsp?2RsCw1ZTAFlhhqAjBvwz0pw
After the gardens, we walked through the university campus and crossed the street to see the grave of Gottfried August Bürger, a famous Literature Historian (he is one of the Göttingen Seven…which is a list of seven historical people). Then we walked down Weender Strasse, towards the middle of the old city. After entering St. Jacobi Kirche, we chose to go up the tower. Thinking it was just going to be a spiral staircase, I was unaware of the surprise ahead. It started as usual with the stone spiral stairs…but then we reached a platform where we had to climb a steep, rickety, wooden ladder. We reached another platform and proceeded to climb another steep later. On each platform we saw something different….the church attic, bells, more bells, historic posters we could not read, and then finally we reached the top (I lost count of how many platforms there were). It was a beautiful view down on the city, again also being special with the snow. After a few minutes at the top, it was time to make our way back down the ladders…which was quite an experience!
The rest of the day we explored the city and looked at cool old buildings dating as far back as 1549! It is just cool that you can have such historic buildings, but they have been modified to have a store in the ground floor, and living or other space above. I was very excited as we stumbled upon two antique stores which were similar to American antiques stores…that is, a lot of stuffed crammed into a few small rooms. I think I got lost for about an hour…looking around and making a few purchases!!!
Overall, Göttingen was a great city to visit. There was, per usual, much more to do that we did not see, but we had a great time with what we did do! The St. Jacobi Kirche and Old Botanical Gardens were definitely highlights of this trip!
Have a great rest of your weekend!
Tschüs
Dustin
Tschüs
Dustin
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